19th Maidenhead Cubs have been growing seeds from space! In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz  44S  and  have  spent  several  months  in  microgravity.  The  seed  packs  returned  to Earth earlier in April and are part  of an educational project launched by the Royal Horticultural society and the UK Space Agency.

19th  Maidenhead  Cubs  are one  of  10,000 groups  who  have  received  a  packet  of  100 seeds from  space,  which  they have  been growing  alongside  seeds  that  haven’t  been  to space and measure  the  differences  over  seven  weeks.

The  Cubs  won’t  know  which  seed  packet contains seeds from space, until all results have been collected by the Royal Horticultural Society and  analysed  by  professional  biostatisticians.  St  Mary’s  School  have kindly agreed to support the experiment, where as a number of the Cubs attend so they can ensure the project can be looked after on a daily basis.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the children 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.  Cub Leader, Loz Marchant says, “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. I can’t think of a better way of working towards the science activity badge!”

follow the story on twitter #rocketscience