Out of This World
Last week, astronauts on the International Space Station “activated” zinnia seeds so there should be flowers growing in outer space in the New Year.
Astronaut Kjell Lindgren activated the Veggie plant growth system, developed by Orbital Technologies Corp., Madison, Wisconsin, which contains the zinnia seeds that are in rooting “pillows.”
The growing system, along with two sets of pillows containing romaine seeds and one set of zinnias, was delivered to the space station in April 2014.
In the coming weeks, Lindgren will turn on the red, blue and green LED lights, activate the water and nutrient system to Veggie, and monitor the plant growth. The zinnias will grow for 60 days, which is twice as long as the first and second crop of Outredgeous red romaine lettuce that grew on the space station.
During the growth cycle, the LED lights will be on for 10 hours and off for 14 hours to stimulate flowering.
“Growing a flowering crop is more challenging than growing a vegetative crop such as lettuce,” said Gioia Massa, NASA Kennedy Space Center payload scientist for Veggie. “Lighting and other environmental parameters are more critical.”
According to Trent Smith, Veggie program manager at the Kennedy Space Center, “Growing the zinnia plants will help advance our knowledge of how plants flower in the Veggie growth system, and will enable fruiting plants like tomatoes to be grown and eaten in space using Veggie as the in-orbit garden.”
To learn more about this out-of-this-world greenhouse, click here.
Video Library 
Latest News
Brandt adds to leadership team
EHR grows national sales team
