Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Feb.14.2020

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Down to Earth – Enjoy the View

In this episode of “Down to Earth – Enjoy the View,” NASA astronaut Mike Foreman shares how his perception of Earth changed during his time in space. He explains a shift in his worldview known as “the Overview Effect,” a term coined by space philosopher Frank White. #SpaceStation20th

** NASA ready to sending more plants and a new way to handle seeds to the International Space Station

Sending people to the Moon and Mars requires understanding how to provide nutrition for astronauts who may be away from Earth for extended periods of time. One solution is growing food in space, which can be challenging. To learn more, scientists will send three types of leafy greens and a new way to handle seeds in space to the International Space Station.

Launching from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Northrop Grumman’s 13th cargo resupply mission, the VEG-03 series of experiments will send a new crop, amara mustard, to the orbiting laboratory. Red romaine lettuce and ‘extra dwarf’ pak choi – which astronauts have grown and eaten in space – also will return to the station.

Researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida planted the pak choi and amara seeds in containers called plant pillows, but for red romaine lettuce, they inserted the seeds into a new type of seed-handling material called seed film. This water-soluble, dissolving film is the same material as a breath freshener strip. It will allow the crew to plant the seeds into pillows themselves, something that has never been done in orbit before. This could allow astronauts to pick and choose what crops they want to grow from a collection of seeds on the space station.