Fifth graders at Fishhawk Creek Elementary School are worried about their experiments.
When the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded so did all of their science work on germinated cottonseeds.
Ten-year-old Casey Utsler was just moments away from having her very own experience of outer space until this happened.
“We were watching and we couldn’t see anything and then we saw this little flare, the fire coming out of the rocket’s engines going up in the sky and we were watching it and then a cloud of smoke and you couldn’t see anything,” Utsler said.
Casey had a science project on board the Falcon 9 rocket and when it exploded - so did that project.
“I’m thinking maybe there’s a cloud but then after a couple seconds or so it’s like it would be out of the cloud by now. And then it’s gone and then we go back to the auditorium and our teacher tells us the rocket blew up.”
Their teacher Mary Vaughn says the kids were really on to something. So you can imagine the disappointment from the students.
My friend Karina Crespo she was also a part of my team. Karina she was crying when she heard it blew up so it was very emotional for us.
This isn’t the first time students from this school have actually sent up a science project into space. They tried it once before but that time it actually made it.
Casey’s older sister Isabelle worked on that first project. Her class sent lettuce seeds to the space station.
“It’s pretty cool and weird. Just mixed emotions when we started it. Most people, they’re like 30. Astronauts are 30 before they even are accepted to get into the program. So to think we’re in fifth grade and we’re sending something to ISS is pretty cool,” Isabella Utsler said.