Australian Golden Wattle Seeds will soon be on their way to the International Space Station (ISS)!
On 27 August, JAXA Vice President Mr Hiroshi Sasaki, JAXA Astronaut Mr Kimiya Yui and other JAXA officials visited the Australian Embassy Tokyo. Australian Ambassador H.E. Mr Richard Court AC presented Mr Sasaki with 50g of Australian Golden Wattle Seeds. The seeds will be flown to JAXA’s Kibo ISS module and then returned to Australia to be planted.
The Australian Space Agency is participating in JAXA’s “Asian Herb in Space” program for the first time and One Giant Leap Australia Foundation is working with the Agency on this project. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) and our Embassy’s Agriculture Section assisted One Giant Leap to meet biosecurity requirements for sending the wattle seeds to Japan.
