It can sometimes be difficult to get kids to take an interest in eating their greens, but British astronaut Tim Peake has caught their attention. He's going to take millions of seeds of the salad leaf rocket into space (on a rocket of the mechanical kind), then distribute them to 10,000 schools for half a million kids to test how well they grow afterwards.
The joint project between the Royal Horticultural Society and the UK Space Agency is more than just a healthy food initiative, of course. The results will be important for future, very long-distance travel in space, where astronauts will need to grow their own food.
It seems unlikely the kids involved will need any encouragement to eat up their salad afterwards - the temptation to be able to say they've eaten rocket from outer space will surely be irresistible.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32753002
The joint project between the Royal Horticultural Society and the UK Space Agency is more than just a healthy food initiative, of course. The results will be important for future, very long-distance travel in space, where astronauts will need to grow their own food.
It seems unlikely the kids involved will need any encouragement to eat up their salad afterwards - the temptation to be able to say they've eaten rocket from outer space will surely be irresistible.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32753002
