Students Growing Peas for Space Experiment

Ed Yeates ReportingThousands of students from here and abroad have started growing special plants that are out of this world, and they're doing it side by side with cosmonauts aboard the Space Station.

At Viewmont High School, Shannon Moos prepares students for a project with no boundaries. That's because these plants are part of a worldwide experiment for the far reaches of space.

Sara Sanders, Viewmont High School: "We're not just taking notes here. We're actually doing an experiment, and we're actually sharing it with the world. Seems like we're actually making a difference here because we're helping in space."

Students are growing peas in special chambers designed by USU's Ryan Bohm. They grow here in selected Utah schools, along with schools in Idaho, Florida, Alaska, and Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. They are now 5th generation space peas the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems wants to know more about.

Gayle Bowen, Micro Lada Project: "They're studying the DNA effects on the peas so we can understand if there are any genetic mutations at all when we're growing plants in space."

The worldwide students talk to each other as well as Cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. There, the Russians are growing similar plants and eating them.

Cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev: "It's just like salad on Earth. Wonderful. We will have this for lunch."

But it's not just eating. Future space travelers will also need this "green" to keep their sanity. On this planet, this green is our connection with earth. But in space there's nothing.

Ryan Bohm, Chamber Designer, USU Space Dynamics Lab: "Especially if you're going to be traveling long distances for six months to a year to two years at a time, to have that touch of home with you."

So this unique experiment unfolds, named after the Russian Goddess of Spring, Lada.

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