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PIONEERING SPACE EXPERIMENTS AIMED AT OBTAINING PLANT BIOMASS TO SUPPLEMENT CREW FOOD RATIONS. М. А. Levinskikh¹, V.N. Sychev¹, I.G. Podolsky¹, and G.E. Bingham². ¹Institute for Biomedical Problems, RAS, Moscow, Russia, and ²Space Dynamics Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, UT. 

     Seven experiments with various plant species were performed in greenhouse Svet aboard the Mir station in the period from 1990 to 2000. Vegetables were objects of investigation in the first and last experiments. In the 1990 experiment, failure to sustain an appropriate plant environment (root zone water stress) under space flight conditions reduced the productivity of Chinese cabbage to between 1/5^th and 1/8^th of the ground controls.

     In the 2000 experiment, four leaf vegetables were raised for a 21-d period, including Chinese cabbage (B. rapa var. pekinensis), Muzina (B. rapa var. nipposinica), broccoli raab  (B. rapa var. utilis), and mustard var. Red Giant (B. juncea). Growth and development characteristics of space-grown plants did not differ from their ground analogs.  Comparison of dry mass of the Chinese cabbage crop between the space experiments of 1990 and 2000 demonstrated that productivity in the latter was 5-fold higher. 

     In the 2000 experiment, Cosmonauts conducted a taste test of the leaf vegetables and concluded that any of the four varieties would be a significant enhancement to their diet, and a worthy crop for a space production greenhouse, though they gave preference to Mizuna and Red Giant mustard (a video of the test will be shown). 

     We suggest that the plant experiment series flown in greenhouse Svet aboard the space station Mir (1990-2000) resulted in technology design improvements and plant cultivation procedure verifications.  These improvements allow for physical condition adjustments due to microgravity, and facilitate normal growth and development of plants.  

     (Support for these investigations was provided by the Russian Space Agency and the NASA - Mir program.)