Rice from Heaven: Chinese Space Plants (GotG28)

Join Emma the Space Gardener on the Tiangong space station to learn about China’s botanical experiments in space, and why Chinese consumers are eagerly awaiting rice from heaven. Plus – what was the first plant grown in space?

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Gardeners of the Galaxy: Episode 28 script, Rice from Heaven

Hello, and welcome to episode 28 of Gardeners of the Galaxy, the podcast for all of the sentient beings in the universe who have a passion for plants! I’m Emma the Space Gardener, and I will be your host as we explore gardening on Earth… and beyond!

News reports state that China’s new Tiangong space station is preparing to host a thousand scientific experiments on a wide range of topics. So, in this episode, I’m going to be exploring some of China’s space plants history and why China’s consumers are looking forward to eating rice from heaven. 

Before we get to that, I’m answering another listener question in my FAQ section. Ada Grabowska-Zhang has asked a question on behalf of her 7-year-old child, which is: “What was the first plant grown in space?”

Now that’s a brilliant question, which is surprisingly tricky to answer. If you Google that question, you’ll get the response that the first plant to flower in space was our old friend Arabidopsis thaliana, the humble weed that botanists use as a model organism. In 1982, Arabidopsis flowered and set seed on the Soviet Salyut-7 space station. Some of the flowers were even presented as a tiny bouquet to the second female cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya. She drew some lovely sketches of the plants in her logbook.