Veg-03 J/K/L Prelaunch Prepartions for NG-13

Aaron Curry, a LASSO research scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, measures out strips of seed film – a new seed handling material containing red romaine lettuce seeds – inside the Space Station Processing Facility on Jan. 16, 2020, in preparation for the VEG-03 J experiment. The seed film experiment involves crew aboard the International Space Station planting the seeds into plant pillows – a common method used to grow plants in space – themselves for the first time ever. This water-soluble, dissolving film addresses the challenge of handling seeds in a microgravity environment and also can be used to deliver fertilizers and other beneficial substances that help plants grow. The experiment will be launched to the orbiting laboratory aboard a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft on the company’s 13th resupply services mission. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 9, 2020, at 5:39 p.m. EST from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.