
Inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021, Dr. Simon Gilroy, principal investigator, holds one of several Target Veggie Chambers containing a nutrient gel so that cotton seeds can be planted in them as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. TICTOC will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Several Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, are in view inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. A nutrient gel has been added to them, and when the gel solidified, Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, planted cotton seeds in them as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. Arko Bakshi, a research associate with the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adds nutrient gel to Target Veggie Chambers, or TVCs, inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 28, 2021. Bakshi waited until the gel solidified and then planted cotton seeds in it as part of the Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) experiment, which will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission. TICTOC will investigate how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule is scheduled for 1:29 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 3, 2021, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

iss065e096005 (June 11, 2021) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough checks on cotton plants growing for the TICTOC space botany study. The investigation looks at gene expression and root growth in microgravity which may improve both space agriculture and cotton cultivation on Earth.

jsc2021e010329 (5/1/2019) --- The TICTOC logo designed by Sarah Friedrich. Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) investigates the morphological and molecular adaptations of cotton seedlings to the microgravity environment encountered in the International Space Station (ISS)
jsc2021e010332 (5/1/2019) --- The Veggie plant growth hardware at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with the TICTOC cotton investigation. Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) investigates the morphological and molecular adaptations of cotton seedlings to the microgravity environment encountered in the International Space Station (ISS). Image courtesy of Jeff Richards.
jsc2021e010330 (3/9/2021) --- A preflight photo of the TICTOC cotton growth chamber containing a seedling ready for harvest. Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) investigates the morphological and molecular adaptations of cotton seedlings to the microgravity environment encountered in the International Space Station (ISS). Image courtesy of Tom Dreschel.

jsc2021e010331 (5/1/2019) --- The Gilroy Lab TICTOC team at their KSC lab: Sarah Swanson, Simon Gilroy, Richard Barker and Arkadipta Bakshi. Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation (TICTOC) investigates the morphological and molecular adaptations of cotton seedlings to the microgravity environment encountered in the International Space Station (ISS). Image courtesy of Deb Wells