Orchid flowers can seem otherworldly, but did you know that the Soviet Space Program once sent blooming orchids into orbit? Epidendrum orchids were cultivated in Malachite, a small growth chamber flown on Salyut 6 for 110 days. This 1973 orchid experiment was designed to investigate the psychological comfort that cosmonauts felt when interacting with the plants. The orchids were launched in bloom, but unfortunately, the flowers immediately fell off the stems. These orchids produced no additional flowers in orbit, so no seeds resulted from this experiment. At that time Malachite was one of the largest plant growth chambers ever sent to space, and although its orchid experiment was largely unsuccessful, it paved the way for even larger growth chambers that were yet to come.