Winners of Space Seed competition in Malaysia

National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA) conducted a student space experiment competition called "Asian 'KIBO' Mission: Malaysia Space Seed (AstroSeed)". This competition used "Capsicum annum (cv MC11)", generally known as "chili" seed, which flew space aboard the International Space Station under the Program of "Space Seeds for Asian Future: SSAF" *.

Over 1,000 secondary school students from all over the country participated in this educational competition and reported their studies of chili seeds, cultivation of the "space" retrieved seeds, statistical process of cultivation, etc.

The finalists and the winners of the competition were announced on the occasion of "5th anniversary of Malaysian Astronaut Program" held on October 20. JAXA representative also attended the event to celebrate them.

The winners of the competition are
- First prize MSRM Kubang Pasu school
- Second prize SMK King George V school
- Third prize SMK Bandar Baru Bangi school.

The rules and way of cultivation and observation can be found on the web site:
Malaysia Space Seed

* This competition was conducted within the framework of the APRSAF program, SSAF#1 - Space Seeds for Asian Future: SSAF 2010-2011 supported by JAXA.
In this program several seeds were launched to the ISS by the HTV2 (transfer vehicle to the ISS) and retrieved by the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134/ULF6). The seeds were then handed over to the space agency in each participating country.
Seeds traveled space in this program are : chili (Malaysia and Thailand), tomato (Indonesia), and salvia and antirrhinum (Vietnam).