A piece of Santa Clarita is heading into space after students from SCVi Charter School had their experiment approved by NASA to make it aboard the International Space Station in February.  

The 11th grade SCVi team consisting of Kai Turner, Dustin Fields and Alec Lewis designed a project focusing on the effects of oxidation in microgravity, according to Kathleen Fredette, the director of STEAM Initiatives for iLEAD charter schools.

“There was a lot of learning that went into the whole project, said iLEAD’s Outreach Coordinator Sarah Brown.“Even kids whose projects were not the final selection got all this wonderful experience.”

NASA’s Ames Research Center approved the project June 7, which is scheduled to launch to the space station in February, according to Brown.

The three students, who began working on their project last fall, are expected to be invited to the launch site in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to Fredette.

Students from SCVi were tasked with creating scientific proposals during the iLEAD’s Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP).

Several teams from three iLEAD charter schools participated in the Spaceflight program, but only the SCVi team will have their experiment ship as part of SSEP’s Mission 10 payload.

SSEP is a program from the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education that is aimed at “inspiring the next generation of America’s engineers.”

The SCVi students were invited to speak about their project at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., along with two other finalist teams from iLEAD schools June 30.

Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, also prepared a tour of the Capitol building for the SCVi students.

This was the first year iLEAD schools participated in the Spaceflight program.

Learners from this year’s mission will become mentors for the next iLEAD school year’s Spaceflight program, according to Fredette.

“We felt that the value of learning and being involved in real authentic science was worth it,” Fredette said.

SCVi will be hosting tours and an open house July 26, when community members can learn more about the students’ project, according to Brown.