English: A panel of red LEDs used for illumination for a plant growth experiment with possible future application to food growing in space.

• From spuds to space medicine. Quantum Devices Inc., of Barneveld, Wis., builds the light-emitting diodes used in medical devices and for growing plants, like potatoes, inside the ASTROCULTUREŠ facility -- a plant growth unit developed for use on the Space Shuttle by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR). WCSAR is one of 16 NASA Commercial Space Centers that help companies fly experiments in space. The ASTROCULTUREŠ facility has flown on eight Space Shuttle missions, including this one in 1995 in which potatoes were grown in space. The LEDs will be used in the ADVANCED ASTROCULTUREŠ unit next year on the International Space Station. Such commercial payloads are flown under the Space Product Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. NASA's lead center for microgravity research.