Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles announced Wednesday that five girls, including one from Canyon Country, will have their work soar into space.

The girls’ works will board SpaceXCRS23 from Kennedy Space Center and rocket to the International Space Station on Saturday, Aug 28.

Girls from 95 of Girl Scouts’ 111 councils, 46 states, two territories and two countries registered for the program. They were challenged to create a design for the “Making Space for Girls” mission patch, write an essay on their space dreams and the future of space travel, or propose an idea for an experiment that could be sent up to the ISS and fit in a Faraday box. Twenty-one winning entries were selected by a panel of the MS4G project team and prestigious space industry professionals from program partners SpaceKids Global, ProxOps, and the ISS National Lab.

The five GSGLA girls with winning entries are:
Daisies (grades K-1) Indiana D. of South Pasadena and Golda E. of Glendale
Juniors (grades 4-5) Kayla N. of Rolling Hills Estates and Milan T. of San Gabriel Valley
Cadette (grades 6-8) Jordan D. of Canyon Country

Jordan and Milan contributed experiment ideas that inspired the three experiments to be conducted in the Faraday Box in the ISS National Lab for approximately six months. Kayla, Golda and Indiana’s submissions to the art and essay categories will be included in a media package. All items will be returned to the girls once back on Earth and processed by NASA as certified flown-in-space items.

Participating Girl Scouts from around the country and their families will gather on Cocoa Beach at 3:37 AM EDT on Saturday, Aug 28 for a pajama launch party. Jordan and Milan will attend from Los Angeles. She will visit the lab where the final experiments are to be put in the Faraday box. “Jordan will also present and staff a public poster session with other girls at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday morning,” said her mother, Tina. “Jordan’s contribution to the plant portion of the studies is her emphasis on health benefits provided by plant sources. We are all very excited.”

In preparation for the week’s events, Golda and her mom, Lori, went to the Griffith Observatory. “Golda loves learning about space and the planets. She recently visited Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland where she built her own droid and piloted a star cruiser. After learning about space at home during lockdown [when she was in pre-school], we worked on drawing planets, stars and moons. Golda’s first year as a Daisy was in 2020 and she joined the troop over Zoom and they worked on badges together. When we were interviewed as a finalist we never expected to win. Golda was in shock. We later found out that this honor was shared with her best friend and troop mate Indiana.”

As part of Girl Scouts of Citrus, Central Florida’s chapter, and nonprofit SpaceKids Global’s inaugural “Making Space for Girls” 2020 STEAM-learning mission challenge, the GSGLA girls’ work was chosen out of 680 entries from girls of all ages.

They will be launched into space in a Faraday Box, provided by 2020 Challenge supporter ProXops and L2 Aerospace, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket on August 28 at 3:37 AM EDT.

“What a thrilling way for our girls to see that space exploration and technology are accessible and rewarding,” said Theresa Edy Kiene, CEO, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles. “Participating in MS4G has inspired our girls to pursue passions in STEM, which is foundational to the Girl Scout leadership experience. I am so proud of each of them and can’t wait to see what this inspires.”