YouTube launches space contest

Written by sigma on 16 October 2011

YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing website, has launched a contest challenging students to come up with new space experiments. YouTube’s Space Lab channel, in cooperation with NASA, JAXA and ESA, allows students to upload videos describing an experiment they would like to see performed on the International Space Station.

The History of YouTube

YouTube was created by three former PayPal employees in 2005 as an idea to share videos over the internet. It gained popularity quickly and was sold to Google in November of 2006 for $1.65 billion USD.

The first video uploaded to YouTube was on April 23rd, 2005 and it was entitled ‘Me at the zoo.’ It was created by one of the founders of YouTube and is only 19 seconds long. It can still be viewed and is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw.

The Space Lab Channel

YouTube’s Space Lab channel can be found by going to the url www.youtube.com/spacelab. Educators can use the channel to teach students about space through the use of related videos found across YouTube. The channel has been set up to promote and conduct the Space Lab contest.

The Contest

The Space Lab contest challenges students to create a science experiment to be conducted on the International Space Station and streamed live through YouTube. It is geared towards students age 14 to 18.

Judges from around the world, including distinguished Canadians astronaut Chris Hadfield and space traveler and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, will determine the winners of the contest. To enter, the contestants are to submit a video describing their experiment. The deadline for the contest is December 7th.

Space Lab Video

Below is a video from the YouTube Space Lab channel explaining the contest. For more information about the contest visit the website at www.youtube.com/spacelab.