This project coincides with the 50thanniversary of NASA extravehicular activities (EVAs). March 18 is the anniversary of the first spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who left his Voskhod-2 vehicle for a 12-minute tethered walk, and June 3 is the golden anniversary of NASA astronaut Ed Whites Gemini IV 23-minute tethered spacewalk, the first for a U.S. astronaut.

Micro-g NExT is managed by the Office of Education at NASAs Johnson Space Center. The program helps support the agency's education policy of using NASA's unique missions and programs to engage and encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

Participating students, by state, are from:

California -- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Connecticut -- Yale University, New Haven

Florida -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach; University of South Florida, Tampa

Idaho -- Boise State University, Boise

Illinois -- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Indiana -- Purdue University, West Lafayette

Iowa -- Iowa State University, Ames

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NASA Invites Student Teams to Go Underwater for Micro-g NExT