Seeds in Space III: Engineering Challenge

As with past missions, an equal amount of Cinnamon Basil seed was held at the Greenwood, SC national headquarters to be used as a control group for students' experiments with the space seeds.

The real centerpiece of Seeds in Space III, however, was Shuttle mission STS-118, which launched on August 8, 2007. U.S. Navy Commander Scott J. Kelly commanded the seven-person crew. U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Charles O. Hobaugh was Endeavour's pilot. Veteran astronauts Richard A. Mastracchio and Dr. Dafydd (Dave) Williams of the Canadian Space Agency returned to space for their second missions. Barbara R. Morgan, Tracy E. Caldwell, Ph. D., and Benjamin Alvin Drew rounded out the crew as mission specialists.

STS-118’s primary mission was to continue building the International Space Station and included in its payload a third starboard truss segment for that purpose. However, this particular mission also had some very special aspects, both in terms of crew and payload.

First, Mission Specialist Barbara R. Morgan had more on her plate than just operating the shuttle’s robotic arm and performing other traditional astronaut duties. She is also a professional educator, and devoted some of her time to communicating with classrooms back on Earth via downlinks for live video-conferences.

Second, the payload contained some unusual items: two plant growth chambers and about 10 million more Cinnamon Basil seeds!

• The growth chambers were built by Orbitec, a Wisconsin-based aerospace research and product development company. These chambers were part of a seed germination and plant growth experiment that attempted to raise Lettuce and Basil plants from seed on the shuttle. While the shuttle was docked at the International Space Station, the plant growth chambers were transferred to the ISS to continue the study. A Space Station crew member tended the sprouts and monitored the experiment. The formal experimental period was 20 days, but it’s likely that the plants will continue to grow and be subject to informal observation.

• The Cinnamon Basil seeds were contributed by Park Seed Company. The seeds were stored in a pressurized space hub module, and the crew took photographs to document that the seeds had indeed been space travelers. At some point during this mission, the Basil seeds from the MISSE 4 experiment were brought onto Endeavour. When the shuttle returned to Earth, both sets of seeds were prepared for distribution to teachers and students, along with "control" seeds—Cinnamon Basil seeds that did not go into space—for experiments in their classrooms. See "NASA’s Engineer Design Challenge" (below) for more information.

Despite some initial concerns about minor damage to protective tiles on the Shuttle's exterior, the Endeavour and her crew returned safely. The Shuttle landed at Kennedy Space Center on August 21, 2007. In fact, it returned a bit earlier than expected, to avoid encountering a hurricaine in the Atlantic. The mission lasted a total of 12 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes.

To learn more about mission STS-118 and especially these education-related opportunities, visit the STS-118 Educator's Resource Page and sign up for NASA’s express mail.