Tomatosphere™ Project - Infographic

2016-12-16 - Infographic showing the journey of the tomato seeds: from Earth to space, then back to Earth! (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

Take a bite out of the science with Tomatosphere™!

1. 1.2 million tomato seeds are prepared to be sent to space.
2. The seeds travel to space in the belly of a dragon—SpaceX's Dragon spaceship, which transports the seeds to the International Space Station.
3. The tomato seeds spend about four weeks in space.
4. Back on Earth, the seeds are sent to 20,000 classrooms across Canada and the United States. Students then grow the space seeds and compare them with regular seeds. They will only find out which seeds went to space when they complete the experiment.

Why grow tomatoes in space?

Future crews on long space missions will not be able to take all their food with them—they will need to grow plants, which will add oxygen and water and remove carbon dioxide from the environment. Why tomatoes? They are easy to grow, versatile, nutritious and tasty and make a great space salsa!

Since it began in 2001, Tomatosphere™ has reached over 3 million students.