Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) donated experimental payload space aboard an upcoming flight of the Dragon spacecraft to support the Heinlein Trust Microgravity Research Competition.

The winner’s experimental payload will remain in the microgravity environment for an extended period of time before returning to Earth. Historically, these opportunities have been limited by availability on Shuttle, often involving a waiting period of many years.

"SpaceX is excited to offer our Dragon spacecraft as a platform for in-space experimentation services to mainstream researchers," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. "We plan to fly DragonLab missions starting in 2010 for this express purpose," Musk said.

SpaceX partnered with the Heinlein Prize Trust and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University to promote microgravity research innovation.

Details on the competition can be found at: http://www.heinleinprize.com/news/microgravity.html

For applications and rules please visit: http://www.labflight.com