May 28, 2003: One month ago, these peas were full of life and vivid green. Now they're brown and dry; they've "gone to seed." It happens in gardens on Earth all the time. These seeds are special, however, because they were grown in space, inside the Russian Lada greenhouse onboard the International Space Station (ISS).
On May 16th, ISS commander Yuri Malenchenko took the brown plants (pictured above is just one of many) and stored them whole in ziplock bags filled with silica gel. Later they'll be taken out again, the seeds harvested and planted to grow a second generation of space-peas. If all goes well they'll become the first legumes to reproduce in Earth-orbit.
This is the fifth "seed-to-seed" experiment conducted by Russian researchers. They've grown Arabidopsis onboard a Salyut spacecraft, turnip greens and wheat onboard Mir, and now peas on the International Space Station.
There's a reason for testing such a variety of plants. Dr. Vladimir Sychev of the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow explains: "Advanced life support systems will eventually include different kinds of plants to provide crews with diverse and well balanced foods. This is why we think it's important to experiment with many species and to understand whether there is a correlation between plant species and their capability to grow and bear fruit in microgravity."
Can space-faring peas produce viable seeds? We'll soon find out....
