SEEDS - A Celebration of Science

When George Watt Park started selling seeds in 1868, he could not have imagined that one day, his namesake company would be involved in massive experiments regarding the effects of outer space conditions on living things. But in 1984, when NASA’s Long Duration Exposure Facility was put into orbit carrying (among other things) millions of Park Seed tomato and other vegetable seeds, Park Seed Company itself embarked on a journey of long duration. Those seeds spent nearly six years in space. Upon their return to Earth, they were packaged, paired with packets of "control group" seeds that had never left the ground, and offered to educators via the SEEDS program—Space-Exposed Experiment Developed for Students.

When it was all said and done, more than 132,000 kits were mailed from Park Seed Company and NASA to 64,000 teachers and 3.3 million students in 40,000 schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 30 foreign countries. Huge numbers of student researchers submitted their data to Oklahoma State University, where the numbers were crunched and the comments and stories collected. The results were ultimately published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as SEEDS: A Celebration of Science.

The entire contents of SEEDS: A Celebration of Science have been scanned and are presented here for both reference and for inspiration.

Front Cover

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Page i

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Page ii

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Page iii

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Back Cover

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Gardeners' Quotes

ON A SEED

This was the goal of the leaf and the root.
For this did the blossom burn its hour.
This little grain is the ultimate fruit.
This is the awesome vessel of power.

For this is the source of the root and the bud...
World unto world unto world remolded.
This is the seed, compact of God,
Wherein all mystery is enfolded.
Georgie Starbuck Galbraith, The New York Times, 1960