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… Flies Okra, Maize, Cowpea to Space Station
Daniel Adaji
Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has joined a historic international space mission by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), sending six indigenous crop seeds to the International Space Station (ISS).
The launch, part of NASA’s Crew-11 Mission, took place on Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The agency’s Director of Media and Corporate Communications, Dr. Felix Ale disclosed to Pointblanknews.com in a statement.
The seeds—okra, cowpea, Guinea corn (sorghum), amaranth, maize, and melon, are Nigeria’s contribution to the World Seeds Payload, a global agricultural experiment led by Jaguar Space.
The initiative brings together scientific input from eleven countries and is designed to study how crops behave under microgravity, providing insights into climate resilience, food security, and the future of agriculture in space.
Representing NASRDA at the launch is Olayinka Fagbemiro, Assistant Director in the International Cooperation & Linkages Department and Project Lead for Nigeria on the mission.
“Her responsibilities have spanned seed selection, documentation, logistics coordination, and institutional representation from the early planning stages through to the current launch phase,” NASRDA noted.
The seeds were transported to the U.S. following a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NASRDA and Jaguar Space, sealing Nigeria’s participation in the mission. It is the first time a biological payload from the country is being flown aboard a crewed NASA mission to the ISS.
“This mission marks a historic first for NASRDA, with Nigeria’s biological payload flying aboard a crewed NASA mission to the ISS. It reinforces NASRDA’s commitment to applying space science toward sustainable development and global scientific cooperation,” it stated.
The World Seeds Payload is part of the Emerging Space Nations initiative—Space for Agriculture and Agriculture for Space and seeks to promote inclusive, culturally grounded space research. For Nigeria, it also provides a platform to validate years of research on similar seeds done under simulated gravity by NASRDA’s Department of Physical and Life Sciences.
This collaboration signals the growing relevance of emerging space nations like Nigeria in global scientific advancements and showcases how indigenous resources can contribute to humanity’s exploration of life beyond Earth.