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An experiment developed by three Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College students was selected for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program’s Mission 21 payload to the International Space Station. Its question is straightforward: how does lubricating oil behave in microgravity compared with an Earth-based sample? SpaceX CRS-35 launched on October 13, 2026, carrying the mission’s payload, but the launch alone does not confirm that this specific experiment reached the station or produced results.
What the students are testing
The team is studying how lubricating oil responds to gravity. Its planned comparison pairs a sample in microgravity with an Earth-based sample maintained by A-B Tech chemistry instructor Evan Lunt. The college has not identified the oil formulation or published a detailed experimental protocol, so the precise properties being measured should not be assumed.
Three A-B Tech physics students developed the project. Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology student Curtis Epley led the team, and physics instructor Shannon Bonomi initiated the project. Bonomi described the work as an application of automotive knowledge to space: “Curtis is applying his (automotive) knowledge to building in space.”
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Why oil behavior matters in space
Lubrication helps moving mechanisms operate, and spacecraft contain components such as engines, pipes, and other moving parts that may need it. Gravity can affect how fluids move and settle; comparing an orbital sample with one kept on Earth could help investigators understand whether oil behaves differently when gravity is greatly reduced.
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A-B Tech has described giving astronauts more options for lubricating spacecraft mechanisms as a possible future benefit. That is the project’s intended application, not an engineering result established by the launch. No findings or performance measurements have been published in the cited college reports.
What the launch confirms—and what it does not
SpaceX CRS-35 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:33 a.m. EDT (10:33 UTC) on October 13, 2026, according to Spaceflight Now. A-B Tech had reported the launch was scheduled for approximately 6:33 a.m. EDT the previous day. The college said the SSEP Mission 21 payload included projects from 21 colleges.
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A launch confirms that the carrier mission departed; it does not, by itself, confirm this experiment’s transfer to the ISS, activation, or return of data. As of October 13, NASA’s CRS-35 mission page still displayed “Future Mission.” That status does not outweigh the launch report or establish the payload’s subsequent status. The experiment’s arrival and findings remain unconfirmed in the cited sources.
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Why reports give different station durations
A-B Tech’s February 4, 2026 report said the experiment was expected to spend four to six weeks aboard the station, followed by return and analysis. Its October 12 report instead described an expected one-to-two-week stay. These are conflicting expectations, not measured durations; neither should be presented as the confirmed length of the experiment in orbit.
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Program context
A-B Tech describes the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) as a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the United States and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally, enabled through collaboration with Rhodium Scientific. The college says the work received support from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space and NASA under agreement 80JSC018M0005, and from Rhodium Scientific under agreement UA-2021-8282.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What remains to be reported
The next meaningful updates would establish whether the sample arrived at the ISS and began the experiment, clarify the actual on-orbit duration, and describe what observations were returned and when A-B Tech will publish its Earth-versus-microgravity comparison. The available reports do not identify the oil or detailed protocol, and they do not provide results.
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