Continuing my research into which of NASA’s African American astronauts are space gardeners, I turned my attention to the second name on the (alphabetical) list: Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.
Guion (Guy) Bluford joined the astronaut class of 1978. He became the first African American in space when he launched on STS-8 in 1973. He flew on three more shuttle missions – STS-61-A, STS-39 and STS-53.
According to New Scientist, nearly every space shuttle flight through the 1980s and 1990s carried experimental plant payloads. However, as far as I can determine, three of Bluford’s four flights did not. Indeed, the primary experiments on STS-39 and STS-53 were conducted for the Department of Defense, and so are classified. It seems unlikely they involved plants.
However, STS-61-A was different. Space Shuttle Challenger launched on 30 October 1985 with ESA’s Spacelab, a laboratory module designed to be carried in the shuttle’s payload bay. The Spacelab D1 mission was the first with German mission management and to be controlled from the German Space Operations Centre.
STS-61-A holds the record for the largest crew to be onboard a shuttle for the entire mission – there were eight people on board. They split into two teams, each working a 12-hour shift to ensure 24-hour operations. Bluford joined NASA’s Jim Buchli and ESA’s Ernst Messerschmid on the Red team.
According to NASA’s mission press kit, there were four plant experiments onboard, all investigating how plants respond to gravity:
Spacelab’s Biorack included a centrifuge to recreate the gravitational force that plants would feel on Earth (1g), thereby allowing scientists to distinguish between the effects of microgravity and other spaceflight conditions.
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A lot of new gardening and plant books have landed on my mat this spring, and I need to up my book reviewing game! I like to do them justice, and spend some time reading them before I write a review, so that does create a bit of a backlog. Right at the time when the garden is demanding my attention. Anyway, the book that has found itself at the top of the list is one that really encompasses the gardening zeitgeist – The Community Gardening Handbook, by Ben Raskin. I looked him up, and he has impeccable credentials. He’s currently Head of Horticulture for the Soil Association; prior experiences include working for Garden Organic, running a walled garden and being a Horticultural Advisor for the Community Farm near Bristol.
Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps the latest space plant news and then talks about some of the seeds with space stories.
While we’re waiting for Tim Peake to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin his Principia mission, I thought it might be fun to have a look at the first Briton in space – Helen Sharman, who was also the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in 1991.
From the moment humans started to reach for the skies, we have used other species from Earth to test what’s safe and what happens to life away from its natural habitat on the planet’s surface.
Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps important spacecraft Arrivals and Departures and learns about growing nutrients and medicines in space. There’s a new plant experiment running on the International Space Station, and exciting news from ESA.
I imagine the Apollo 11 astronauts had plenty to do while they were hurtling towards the Moon, but from a bystander’s perspective it was probably pretty dull stuff. Still, it’s Day 3 of the mission, so let’s have a look at what they’ve got stashed away in their space age picnic basket.
At the beginning of the year, I set up a new mission in the AeroGarden, growing two peppers (Popti and Redskin) and a tomato (Veranda Red). Ten days later, I had two tomato seedlings, which I had to thin to one. The peppers were a bit slower, but by 19th January they had germinated (and been thinned) too.
Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores cultivating the cosmos, planting planets and sowing seeds in space. The second episode of Gardeners of the Galaxy includes a look at the current state of plant experiments on the International Space Station, a rundown of the missions on their way to Mars and a sneak peek at the future of space chillies. And there’s a seed giveaway too!
On 10th June, thousands of scientists worldwide went on strike, putting their research activities on hold for a day to reflect and take action on systemic inequalities in science. #ShutDownStem was part of the wider Black Lives Matter protests, forcing us to take a long, hard look at how systemic racism affects people of colour.