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NASA shuttle to carry Miami University experiment to space station

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Staff Report 11:00 AM Thursday, January 28, 2010

OXFORD — A space shuttle flight scheduled for takeoff on Feb. 7 is to deliver to the international space station a Miami University experiment focused on understanding how light and gravity affect plant growth.

The Tropi-2 experiment is to assess, at a cellular level, how seedling sprouts of the thale cress plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) respond to varying light and gravity conditions. The shuttle Endeavour is to lift off Feb. 7 from kennedy Space Center, Fla., on a 13-day flight to carry the experiment and other cargo to the space station. John Kiss, a Miami University botany professor, is overseeing the experiment, which will be brought back to Earth on a future shuttle trip by the Discovery orbiter.

NASA officials want to know whether astronauts could grow plants as part of life support systems on long-term space missions.

The Tropi-2 experiment follows up on the Tropi-1 project, also led by Kiss, that was done on the space station in 2006.

The space shuttle has been a boost to the region’s science and technology work, including Air Force Institute of Technology projects involving structures that can be collapsed for more convenient transport.

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