TEXAS – A small setback didn't stop McDade Independent School District students from reaching for the stars.
- Students seeing their hard work take flight
- Satellite will launch from Cape Canaveral
- Created by students from McDade ISD
On Wednesday, a satellite the students’ built will launch from Cape Canaveral to begin its two-year orbit. Sending anything out to space remains a modern marvel; a feat often reserved for the most brilliant minds in the world.
Nine students from McDade ISD, a small school district 35 miles east of Austin, spent a year building the McDade Bulldog Satellite. While their school is small, the students’ dreams are not.
The students said they are eager to see their hard work take flight.
Seventh grader, Tristan Ledlie, was still in disbelief.
"I said, 'Are we really building a satellite that NASA is going to take and send into space?' So, it's crazy," said Ledlie.
The SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral with their satellite in tow on Wednesday. The shuttle will drop off supplies at the International Space Station, and then the satellite begins its journey orbiting the Earth.
However, like any mission, it did come with doubts and challenges.
"All I knew is that they were these big things that have, sometimes, panels that go up in space," 6th grader Jessica Dube said. "I thought we weren't going make it. We're going to mess up somewhere."
The goal of the journey is to change how the students’ view the world, a privilege often reserved to those who dare to broaden their horizons beyond their town and home planet.
"I just wanted to know what it's like to actually be a part of something and to be able to build something and be history," Dube said.
The launch is scheduled for Wednesday, December 5, at 1:30 p.m. ET.