Butterflies in space

It’s a wonderful thing when kids are invited to get excited about science. And with the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor on Friday, NASA is throwing open the door.

As it heads to the International Space Station, Endeavor will be toting living things besides seven astronauts: butterfly larvae, young spiders, and the nectar and fruit flies that will feed them.

And hundreds of school kids in Colorado will be watching. 

Bioserve Space Technologies, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will downlink videos and images of the spiders and butterflies from the space station to its partners: the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colo., and the Baylor College of Medicine.

Meanwhile, elementary and middle school students in Colorado will be observing populations of the same creatures on Earth.

The first of two experiments will contrast the life cycles of painted lady butterflies in space and on Earth. The second will compare the ability of an orb-weaving spider to spin webs and catch food on Earth, and in the nearly weightless environment of space.

Eileen Patrick is a librarian at Rocky Mountain Elementary School in Westminster, Colorado near Denver. As of Thursday, her butterfly larvae were incubating in her bathroom. If they survive the weekend, she’ll begin her experiment next week with the 30 or so 4th and 5th graders who attend her after-school, extra-curricular science program.

Patrick says she hosts the science experiments — her aspiring engineers were building go-carts on Thursday — to supplement classroom science that’s largely consumed with material to meet state testing requirements.

“It’s still true that the fields of math, engineering and science under-represent girls, women, minorities, kids who come from at-risk backgrounds,” she said. And in large part, those are the students she knows. 

“I think if you want to raise the next generation of scientists, you don’t wait until they’re halfway through college to engage them in science, to fire them up,” she said. “Live animals are immediately fascinating and engaging to kids.”