Gardening Club take part in the Rocket Science experiment….

Earlier this year Gardening Club took part in the Rocket Science experiment initiated by the Royal Horticultural Society. Schools were asked to plant seeds which had been in space with British astronaut Tim Peake to see if this had an impact on the way in which they grew.

The children planted seeds from two packets – one which had been to space and one which hadn’t.  Measurements and observations were taken as the seeds germinated and grew and then the children had to predict which packet had been to space. We were thrilled that the children from RSM accurately predicted which seeds had been to space.

Full results of the experiment have just been published. Overall RHS  found that on average, the Earth seeds grew better than the space seeds, but not by much. They think this is most likely caused by the space seeds being slightly affected by radiation while on board the ISS. Despite this, they still grew and that is great news as it means there is still potential to grow food on long-term missions, or even another planet in the future!

To download a copy of the report to print and keep, head here: https://schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk/RocketScience