ISS Fan Club

NASA will shed light on plant investigations aboard the International Space Station in a briefing at noon EST, Friday, Feb. 5. The briefing from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

The upcoming shuttle mission, planned to launch Feb. 7, will continue assembling the space station so it can be used for continuous scientific research as a national and multinational laboratory.

Microgravity plant growth experiments conducted aboard the station will help prepare for long-duration spaceflights of the future. The use of miniaturized green fluorescent proteins, that glow in the dark, and associated compact imaging systems, may be used to help monitor crop conditions on Earth.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_M10-021_ISS_science.html