Jun 12 1996
From The Space Library
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) scientists began the most comprehensive testing to date on how plants produce food and oxygen in space. The experiment, part of NASA's development of a Controlled Ecological Life Support System, called for the analysis of 128 potato plants and 6,500 wheat seeds. NASA scientists planned for the study to last from one to three years. NASA agricultural engineer John Sager, praising NASA's earlier success in producing crop species for space, explained the experiment's significance: "If we plan to live in space ... we must determine if this system will be as successful over longer periods of time." Scientists were using KSC's Biomass Production Chamber to test the crops in a space-like environment. NASA had begun in 1987 to test strains of crops and plants for their ability to produce oxygen and food in space.
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