Microgravity University, also known as the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program (RGSFOP) is a program run by NASA which enables undergraduate university students to perform microgravity experiments aboard NASA's DC-9 aircraft at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Acceptance into the program requires a team of four fliers (and any number of ground crew) and is done through the writing and submission (during late Fall) of a technical proposal which details among other things what the experiment is about, safety considerations, and outreach plans. In the 2007 campaign, 36 of the 74 proposals submitted were accepted. Upon acceptance, a flight date is assigned and the team must design and build the planned experiment by then. Prior to flight, submission of a TEDP (an in-depth description of apparatus) is also required, as are FAA approved physical examinations for all fliers and the optional alternate flier.
Read more about Microgravity University: The Flight Week
Famous quotes containing the word university:
“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)