Did you fellas hear?  The Dragon has returned to Earth.  The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has returned with its latest loot haul from the International Space Station.  And it came back with some fresh grass clippings.

The Dragon successfully touched down over the weekend with a load of science experiments ready for researchers.  Of importance to growing plants in space: the University of Wisconsin’s experiment studying the effect of microgravity on the research grass Brachypodium distachyon.  Dr. Patrick Masson leads this botany experiment, and he’s just a few doors away from our astrobotany lab (The Gilroy Lab) at the University of Wisconsin.  Dr. Masson’s lab will be studying the gene expression of Brachypodium under the stress of spaceflight.  We’re eager to see their results.

Let’s mow grass in space.