Discovery returns Space Station experiments for AMNH students

When the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery returned this summer from its historic mission, the astronauts brought back camera film, tadpole shrimp eggs, and a single pea eagerly anticipated by some 20 high-school interns at the American Museum of Natural History.

These seemingly random materials were among tiny experiments delivered to the Space Station on December 25, 2004, on board a Russian Progress supply ship. The experiment samples included those from the Museum and ten additional schools and organizations representing students in elementary through high school.

The Museum experiments contained a variety of materials and seeds--the photographic film and pea, radish and parsley seeds, and dried triops (or tadpole shrimp, crustaceans that resemble miniature horseshoe crabs) eggs--in clear vials with lids. Each vial was wrapped in two vacuum bags and placed in a Student Experiment Module Satchel carrier.

The Museum chose these objects to investigate whether exposure to the zero-gravity environment in space would alter the eggs, seeds, film, and other matter. For instance, they chose the triops eggs to see if they would grow and behave differently in space than on Earth, and the pea and parsley and radish seeds to discover if they would sprout differently on Earth after exposure to space.

The vials will be returned to the Museum and schools this fall when school is in session. After receiving the space-flown samples, the students will be able to compare them to ground samples and take pride in their participation in the nation's illustrious space program.