Tomatospheres-5

iss050e052741 (2/24/2017) --- European Space Agency (ESA) Thomas Pesquet (upside down) posing with Tomatospheres-5 within ziplock bags, in the U.S. Laboratory. The Tomatosphere 5 investigation consists of a shipment of 1.2 million tomato seeds to the International Space Station (ISS), where they visit for a short while aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft before returning to Earth. Approximately 15 000 students in schools across Canada and the United States receive the space-flown seeds, as well as seeds that remained on Earth, and grow both types in a blind study that measures their germination, growth rate, and general vigor.