STS-63 (Discovery, 03 Feb 95 - 11 Feb 95):

Dwarf Wheat and Mustard Plant Demonstration

The STS-63 flight activity was the first time that plants were flown in microgravity using the Astroculture flight hardware. A variety of dwarf wheat and mustard (Wisconsin Fast Plants - Brassica rapa) were flown, inaugurating the joint industry-WCSAR program of applied plant research in microgravity.

Fast Plants and Dwarf Wheat in the Astroculture root tray.

Dwarf wheat was chosen because it may be utilized as a food source by the crews of long duration space missions, and it is a well characterized plant, so results obtained in space may be meaningfully interpreted in terms of much terrestrial experience. The Wisconsin Fast Plants, originally developed as models to be used in terrestrial plant research, were chosen for their very short life cycle (35-40 days). The plants grown during STS-63 were put into the root tray in different stages of plant development. Seeds were planted, and successfully germinated in microgravity. Young plants thrived in microgravity and in several instances formed buds or buds opened into flowers. Finally, several mature plants were pollinated prior to launch, and successfully set seed during the mission.

Additionally, on STS-63, all Astroculture subsystems were present and running. Added to the water delivery, plant lighting, and temperature/humidity control subsystems, this mission provided the first demonstration of a closed air loop which monitored and controlled the critical aspect of the plant chamber atmosphere. A miniature CO₂ detector monitored concentrations of this important gas used in photosynthesis and a small ethylene scrubber catalytically removed ethylene from the chamber air.

STS-50 - STS-57 - STS-60 - STS-63 - STS-73 - STS-95 - STS-101 - STS-107  /  STS-89/91 - Inc 2 - Inc 4 - Inc 5