Students study butterflies on Atlantis

PENSACOLA, Fla. - It's a far out experiment that's never been done before, and students in the Florida Panhandle are over the moon they're participating.

The students are hatching butterflies while comparing their growth with butterflies that are hatching aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.

Reinheardt Holm Elementary School is one of 15 schools in the state of Florida that is getting to be a part of this once in a lifetime experiment.

The students are helping scientists see the difference between butterflies here on earth, and in outer space. They just got their first picture of caterpillars inside Atlantis.

"Our caterpillars and their caterpillars are almost identical at the stage of maturity. We're really excited about that, because we were afraid there would be a difference between the two," math and Science coach Mark Gulsby said.

The space caterpillars are floating around, along with their food. They're having to anchor their bodies down with their feet.

"Of course, butterflies have never been in space, so they don't know how that will affect their development and their growth," Gulsby said.

What's so exciting for the students is they get to see the whole transformation.

When the caterpillars came to the school, they were actually still eggs. They were so small, students needed a magnifying glass to see them. What's so neat is they go from being an egg, to a caterpillar, to a beautiful butterfly in a matter of weeks.

"We go back to the room and talk about it, what stage they are, then we look and see what do they look like now," teacher Sandra Croucher said.

What they see may be totally different than how the butterflies in space will look like once they mature.

"Gravity is so important to them. They immediately hang upside down, they form their chrysalis, and wings have to hang upside down. So this is a big question: What will happen with no gravity? Are they still going to have those instincts? Will the butterfly be able to grow and mature?" Gulsby added.

It's a question that can only be answered once the shuttle returns to Earth.

You can track the experiment too, by clicking here.