You already know that plants provide people with many things we need: air, clean water, food, medicines and fibers. If we are ever going to colonize on another planet or the Moon, we will need to have plants with us. But how would we take them? Let's think about the challenges of growing plants in space.

Remember that one of the things plants need to live is room to grow so they can carry out the process of making food for themselves. Based on what you have learned about the limited amount of room on a spacecraft, do you think that astronauts could grow corn, which can be 7 feet (2 meters) high? Probably not! Scientists have developed some dwarf varieties of plants such as wheat, tomatoes and rice that are just as nutritious as normal varieties on Earth and will only grow to about 12 inches (25 centimeters) in height.

Printer Friendly Version

Mission 5: Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19