CHILDREN at Wellesley Park Primary School in Wellington have planted 200 seeds to start the ‘Rocket Seed’ experiment organised by the Royal Horticultural Society and the UK Space Agency.

All the classes are taking part and have planted seeds from either a blue or a red packet. One colour has spent six months on the International Space Station and one has not. It will not be revealed until the end of the experiment which colour has been into space.

The children’s task is to record the rate of growth of all the seeds over 35 days and then return the results. The results will then be analysed alongside other schools’ results and published later this year.

It is hoped the experiment will help reveal the effect of microgravity on seed growth and whether any mutations have been caused. Ultimately this will help to decide if astronauts can grow their own food in space.