Hardware for in-flight fixation of plants in microgravity

NASA-approved hardware was designed for an experiment involving in-flight fixation of 4.8-day-old seedlings of Brassica perviridis. The hardware is inexpensive, reliable, and simple to construct. This hardware aboard flight 61-C of space shuttle Columbia functioned perfectly, and required less than 0.5 hr of crew time for training. Analyses of cellular ultrastructure indicated excellent ultrastructural preservation.