SPACE SAPLING LANDS AT BROGDALE COLLECTIONS What must be one of the most famous saplings in the country has now ‘landed’ at Brogdale Collections in Faversham. The tiny sapling has been grown from a pip taken from Isaac Newton’s apple tree, which was blasted into space with British astronaut Tim Peake. In 2015 apple pips from […]
We are proud to be one of the recipients of one of eight young trees from the pips of Isaac Newton ’s apple tree that were blasted into space with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake.
In 2015 apple pips from the iconic Newton tree were taken on the Principia mission by British astronaut Tim Peake to the International Space Station. The pips then spent six months floating in micro gravity as part of the ‘Pips in Space’ project before returning to Earth in 2016.
On their return from space in 2016, the well-travelled pips went to Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex and home to the Millennium Seed Bank, where they spent 90 days at 5°C to simulate the winter cold needed to break dormancy. In May 2017, they were warmed to 15°C and the young seedlings started to emerge.
The UK Space Agency, the National Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, worked together on the project.
Brogdale was selected to share the story of space travel, Isaac Newton, horticulture and the wonders of science as part of our ongoing commitment to education, as well as our previous involvement in the Apollo 10 mission with Buzz Aldrin in 1969.
Newton’s Space Sapling lands at Brogdale, the home of the National Fruit Collection We are proud to be one of the recipients of one of eight young trees from the pips of Isaac Newton ’s apple tree that were blasted into space with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake. In 2015 apple pips from the iconic […]
