“Space Tomato Day,” an Interstellar Gardening Experiment in Indiana
Preserving Jar, 1990; Minnetrista Heritage Collection, 98.37.1691.
Preserving Jar, 1990; Minnetrista Heritage Collection, 98.37.395.
As the days begin growing longer and warmer, it’ll soon be time for backyard gardeners to plan their plots. Whether growing herbs, vegetables, peppers, or tomatoes, every aspiring green thumb loves to watch their efforts yield colorful, flavorful crops. Today, a pair of small jars in the Minnetrista Heritage Collection “preserve” the story of a Hoosier tomato crop that was, literally, out of this world.
As far as labels go, the neatly-typed notes on these jars are a curator’s dream because they tell us the “what, where, and when” of their story. “Burtsfield School” was Frank A. Burtsfield Elementary School in West Lafayette, Indiana. Local records show that September 20, 1990 was in fact “Space Tomato Day,” when the school’s staff and fifth-and sixth-grade students celebrated their successful nurturing of tomato plants grown from seeds once carried into space!
Burtfield School Social Studies teacher Betty Ratliff, compares “earth” and “space” tomatoes with her students on “Space Tomato Day”; Minnetrista Heritage Collection, 4071.
This local gardening project was the culmination of years of work at NASA. In 1984, over 12 million Rutgers tomato seeds were launched into space as part of NASA’s new Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). One of 57 experiments on board, these seeds were the heart of the aptly named SEEDS project (or, the “Space-Exposed-Experiment-Developed-for-Students” project). After being aboard the LDEF for six years, the SEEDS project distributed specimens to schools across the country, from primary schools to colleges, in order to crowd source information on the effect that space exposure had on food products. An estimated four million American students received “space seeds” and “control seeds” for comparison. They then planted and cared for them to study how, and if, the space tomatoes germinated. Burtsfield School participated because its then principal, Robert Foerster, championed the project. His lifelong fascination with space made him one of ten finalists for NASA’s “Teacher in Space” program alongside Christa McAuliffe, the later ultimately selected for the ill-fated Challenger Mission in 1986.
In January 1990, Shuttle Columbia retrieved the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Photo Credit: NASA.
In total, four kits containing 200 tomato seeds arrived in West Lafayette in early 1990. Local newspaper stories speak of the excitement among Burtsfield’s students, some of whom even named their tomato plants. Nurtured throughout the summer, on September 20, “Space Tomato Day,” the school harvested their plants to examine (and eat) them. Despite early concerns that fruit grown from space seeds could be toxic because of their exposure to radiation, the tomatoes proved safe. During the day, Burtsfield students cataloged their tomatoes by color, calculated their mass, volume and circumference, and canned them. According to a handwritten note on the back of the classroom photograph above, the Ball Corporation donated jars for this “space tomato” canning.
Burtfield School Social Studies teacher Betty Ratliff (right) with stock pots for water bath canning; Minnetrista Heritage Collection, 4072.
Now over thirty years old, these preserves are likely best kept in storage rather than served for dinner. Their survival however, documents the contribution of one Indiana school to the future exploration, and maybe even colonization, of space. Schools that participated in the SEEDS project sent the results of their experiments back to NASA. That compiled data laid the groundwork for future outer space food experiments, including “Tomatosphere,” which schools can still participate in today. Who knows, maybe one day Minnetrista’s “Space Tomatoes” will be joined by “Martian Tomatoes” on the shelf!
