Popcorn in Space

Eastway Elementary students test popping corn in space

Learning about outer space is cool. Eating popcorn also is cool.

Put them together, and you have a science experiment Eastway Elementary fourth-grader Micha Jordan called Friday “really cool.”

Micha and other Eastway students in Cindy Spraggins’ second-grade class and Ellen Austin’s third-grade class last year waited six months for this day.

Their “Effect of Space Conditions on Popcorn” experiment was among the 20 U.S. student proposals NASA selected in March. But it wasn’t until Aug. 26 when the eight vials of 161-177 Thrifty Maid popcorn kernels finally made it to New Mexico, where NASA loaded them on a high-altitude balloon that soared 122,000 feet — about 20,000 feet into outer space.

About Brandon Haught

Communications Director for Florida Citizens for Science.
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