On Tuesday, China announced it had grown the first ever plants on the moon, days after landing on the moon’s “far side” Von Karman crater. The cotton seed sprouts seemed to have been able to withstand the harsh lunar conditions: freezing temperatures, lower gravity levels, and radiation.
But by Thursday, the fledgling cotton seed sprouts had died, according to Liu Hanlong, the experiment lead, in a government press conference statement.
The cause of death: Temperatures inside the 1-liter canister the plants were in had dived to -52 degrees Celsius.
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