RHS to send rocket to space
by Rhiannon James
The International Space Station
School children are to get the chance to grow space food thanks to a Royal Horticultural Society project to send rocket seeds to the International Space Station.
Tim Peake will be taking the seeds with him when he embarks on his six-month Principia mission in November, as the first British astronaut to visit the Space Station. He is particularly aiming to inspire children with his mission and is focusing on healthy eating.
When he returns, thousands of schools will have the chance to grow the seeds taken into space alongside ones that have remained earthbound and compare the results. The experiment will be part of a larger project to test whether we can grow food in space. If the journey hasn’t affected the seeds, it will go some way to showing that fruit and vegetables could be grown on future long-term missions.
The project will be officially launched by the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May and schools will be able to apply for seeds from September.