Seeds from space to be grown by Southwater pupils

The children from Castlewood Primary School will be taking part in a science experiment for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March next year.

The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Castlewood will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks.

The pupils won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the pupils to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.

Mrs Smith, Science Co-ordinator at Castlewood, says: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science.

“This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and is a great way to get every pupil involved!”

Rocket Science is just one educational project from a programme developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.

Applications to take part in Rocket Science are still open and will close in March next year or until all packs have been allocated.

Schools and educational groups can apply at www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening.

Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience

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