Rocket Seeds Have Landed at Fulham's Queen's Manor School
Seeds pictured floating alongside Tim Peake now growing in primary's Middle Hall
The seeds, which can be seen here floating in the Internation Space Station alongside astronaut Tim Peake were returnned from the International Space Station by his colleague, American astronaut Scott Kelly.
Pupils at the Lysia Street Primary have planted two sets of seeds – one pack which had been taken to the ISS by British astronaut Tim, the other which had stayed on Earth.
The seeds are growing under the same conditions, without pupils knowing which is which.
QM was selected to take part in the Rocket Science project by the Royal Horticultural Society after Year 6 teaching assistant Vicky Turner put in an application.
The 2kg packets of rocket seeds had completed their six month mission stored in the Columbus laboratory on board the ISS after being sent up on September 2.
Over 8,000 schools applied for a pack of these seeds to grow alongside seeds that have remained on Earth for project Rocket Science, a nationwide experiment launched by the Royal Horticultural Society in partnership with the UK Space Agency.
The space seeds will be sent out to schools including Queen's Manor in April and pupils will then grow both sets of seeds under the same conditions, without knowing which seeds have been in space.
The data about the two sets of seed will then be input, along with that from other schools in the project, into a national database that will contribute to our knowledge of growing food in space.
“We are delighted that our application to be part of the RHS Rocket Science project has been successful," says Headteacher Mrs Sonja Harrison.
You can follow the project on Twitter @RHSSchools.
NASA's picture of the astronauts returning to Earth with the seeds
Tim Peake is still on board the ISS and is due to return to Earth on June 5.
May 6, 2016