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The ASTROCULTURE™ (ASC) middeck flight experiment series was developed to test and integrate subsystems required to grow plants in reduced gravity, with the goal of developing a plant growth unit suitable for conducting quality biological research in microgravity. Flights on the Space Shuttle have demonstrated control of water movement through a particulate rooting material, growth chamber temperature and humidity control, LED lighting systems and control, recycling of recovered condensate, ethylene scrubbing, and carbon dioxide control. A complete plant growth unit was tested on STS-63 in February 1995, the first ASC flight in which plant biology experiments were conducted in microgravity. The methods and objectives used for control of environmental conditions in the ASC unit are described in this paper.

The ASTROCULTURE™ flight unit flown as part of the SPACEHAB-03 mission on STS-63 was a complete plant growth system providing plant lighting, temperature control, humidity control, water and nutrient delivery, a CO2 control system, nutrient control using the NASA Zeoponics system, an ethylene photocatalysis unit, a control and data acquisition system, and plant video. The objective of the ASTROCULTURE™-4 experiment was to continue technological assessment of these environmental control subsystems. Plants were included in this package for the first time. Two plant species were flown, rapid cycling ‘Wisconsin Fast Plants’ (Brassica rapa), and dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. ‘Super Dwarf’). Growth and development of both plant species on orbit appeared normal and similar to that of plants grown under terrestrial conditions.