toronto-In the cult movie classic Attack af the Killer tomatoes, mutant vgetable cut a deadly swath through the community, consuming everyone in their path.
But canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk says Toronto students cultivating tomato seeds from space shouldn't worry about like imitating art.
"There should be no fear on the part of teachers or paronts about any toxic fuit growing from these tomato plants," said Thirsk, who flew aboard the shuttle columbia on a 17-day mission in 1996.
He said he'll eat tomatoes produced from the high-tying seeds or use them to salsa ar ketchup.
Thirsk visited students at St. Cecillia Catholic School on Annette St. yesterday to check up on their experiments with tomato seeds taken into space by astronaut Mark Garneau.
The Tomatosphere project involves 2,500 secondary school classrooms across Canada growing 400,000 seeds, half of which made the trip to space. Space plants are said to grow faster and taller.
The space-flown seeds made 17o orbits of the Earth, travelled more than 7 million kilometers and spent 12 days weightless, Thirsk said.
At the end of June, schools will send results of their experiment to the Canadian Space Agency which will compile the date and make conclusions.
thirsk said the program is designed to introduce space science to young Canadians, "l can see that in these classrooms we have potential future Canadian scientists and astronauts," he said. "I find that incredibly exciting