Seed to Seed Growth of Arabidopsis thaliana on the International Space Station

The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) as a permanent experimental outpost has boosted the potential for quality plant research in space. To take advantage of this orbital laboratory, the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a plant growth facility capable of supporting plant growth in microgravity. Using this Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) facility, an experiment was conducted with the objective to grow Arabidopsis thaliana plants from seed to seed on the ISS. Seeds were successfully germinated and grown on the ISS in ADVASC from May 10^th until the end of June 2001. This experiment demonstrated that ADVASC is capable of providing environment conditions suitable for plant growth and development in microgravity, and that Arabidopsis thaliana does not require presence of gravity for growth and development.