In an Australian first, students at Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School Bossley Park have been lucky enough to be selected by the One Giant Leap Australia Foundation to germinate and grow seeds that have been to space. 

Yes, you read that correctly – space!

Seeds to space

The exciting seeds to space program is called ‘What’ll happen with the wattle??!’

One of the students involved in the project, Year 5’s Antonio Bagala, says he is looking forward to being a part of history.

“The most interesting part of this experiment is that we are able to be a part of an official project and that our school will receive seeds that have been to space” – Antonio 

In collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the seeds lived in space for six months before returning to Japan in June and now Australia where they are in quarantine. 

The seeds were due to arrive in time for Science Week but, due to COVID-19, will now splash down in Bossley Park in a couple of weeks’ time.

How the project came about

Only 150 schools across Australia have been given the opportunity to grow a wattle from space, and eight are from Mary Immaculate; four are in Year 4, and four are in Year 5. 

“We want the students to take this on and be open and inquiring thinkers,” school principal, Lisa Wahab, said.

Students were chosen to be a part of this experiment after writing a proposal and creating a video. Their proposal described why they wanted to have the wattle planted at their school, including how the …