WIESBADEN, Germany - The European Space Agency, National Aerospace and Space Administration and You Tube have teamed up for a contest that will allow winning entrants the opportunity to have their experiment conducted on the International Space Station.

The contest opened on Oct. 11, 2011, and will continue to accept submissions in the form of a two-minute duration video through Dec. 7. Students age 14 to 18 can become researchers in their own right by proposing up to three separate original entries on the official YouTube Space Lab contest website. Participants can enter as either individuals or in teams of up to three people. Entries must include an experiment question, hypothesis, method, and expected results. Activities like this serve to support and highlight what DoDDS Europe schools have planned as part of the agencies Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics initiatives for the 2012 school year.

European regional winners will win a visit to the training facilities of the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. This will include scientific discussions and a personally guided tour led by European astronauts.

As an award, six regional finalists will get to travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in a zero-g flight. On March 13, two global winners will be announced. The global finalists will get to travel to either Russia, where they can engage in an authentic astronaut training experience, or Japan to watch their experiment blast off into space. They also receive the grand prize of having their experiments performed on the space station and live streamed for the public via YouTube.

This competition aims to inspire students to look beyond their daily studies and ask their own questions of the universe around them. Proposed experiments will focus on either life sciences or physics with the hope that the entrants will take their experiences with them as they continue in their education, perhaps towards careers in math and science.

For more information visit the following websites:

• European Space Agency
• NASA
• YouTube Contest Site