During the Space Shuttle era, NASA's five orbiters conducted innumerable experiments, many of them focusing on how the zero-g environments impacts terrestrial life. One such experiment, launched as part of the Long Duration Exposure Facility, sent 12.5 million tomato seeds into low Earth orbit to see how their time in space would impact their ability to be grown back on Earth.

The LDEF was launched in 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger, to be picked up again next year, but mission delays postponed the pickup for half a decade.

On the LDEF was the Space Exposed Experiment Developed for Students (AKA SEEDS), a payload of 12.5 million tomato seeds. When the LDEF was recovered in 1990 by Columbia, the seeds were shared with schools around the country to inspire interest in experimentation and outer space.

This specimen is a packet of Space Exposed Tomato Seeds that orbited above the Earth aboard the LDEF for over five years. Thousands of these packets were shared with schools to experiment how they would grow compared to the control plants. Data shared with NASA by students showed that the space seeds both germinated and grew faster than the control group.

Our specimens are real space exposed seed packets which were aboard the LDEF in canisters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Each pack is labelled with where they were kept on the module and includes an informational photocard about the mission with a photo of the LDEF.

This is a very rare collector's item and we do not expect to get more seeds any time soon! Want to learn more about the Space Shuttle program? Check out our collection of NASA specimens below!

After the final Apollo program mission in 1972, NASA turned its attention to the development of a reusable spacecraft to conduct experiments in low Earth orbit. The Space Shuttle program ran hundreds of such experiments across three decades, ferrying scientific equipment back and forth from outer space. The Long Duration Exposure Facility was one such experiment, an orbital structure carrying various building materials that could potentially be used in the construction of NASA’s end goal: a permanent experimental facility orbiting the Earth, paving the way for the International Space Station.

The LDEF was built in a cylindrical shape that measured 30 feet by 14 feet, weighing around 21,500 pounds. A good amount of that weight owed itself to the 57 experiments included in the design, peer-selected from universities, foreign space agencies, and NASA itself. These experiments were principally to test out potential building materials for a permanent space station, to see how well they would fare during an extended stay in space. One third of these experiments were specifically to measure meteoroid impacts and how different materials handled being struck by this space debris, a crucial factor in building a space station.

The structure was brought to low Earth orbit aboard Challenger’s fifth mission STS-41-C, on April 6, 1984. Originally, the LDEF was to be retrieved by Challenger one year later, but the mission was delayed. Unfortunately, after the shuttle's tragic destruction in 1986, there was no other orbiter fitted to handle the LDEF’s weight.

For four more years, the facility orbited the Earth until a refitted Columbia made the recovery during STS-32, on January 9, 1990. Though the delay meant NASA fell behind in its plans for developing a permanent space station, the extended mission time allowed for more data on how the different building materials fared in space.

Testing building materials wasn’t the only experiment the LDEF conducted. The Space Exposed Experiment Developed for Students, aka SEEDS, sent 12.5 million tomato seeds aboard the LDEF, to be planted and grown by school students once the facility was retrieved. The idea behind this mission was to inspire interest in experimentation and outer space, helping future scientists find their passion from a young age.

NASA received over 8,000 reports from students at universities, high schools, and even elementary schools. Not only were the seeds successfully germinated, but the tomato plants grew far faster compared to the control group of regular tomato seeds. Experiments like SEEDS shed some light on how the zero-g environment affects terrestrial life. Perhaps some day seeds like these will travel aboard a spaceship, to be planted in the soil of another world.