In a historic first for Nigeria and Africa at large, Egusi seeds, a staple in West African cuisine, are set to journey to outer space as part of a pioneering scientific experiment led by Nigerian space scientist and Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) alumnus, Temidayo Oniosun.

The initiative, which aims to assess the nutritional and functional suitability of Egusi seeds in long-term human space exploration, will inaugurated yesterday, at 12:09 PM EDT (5:09 PM Nigerian time) aboard NASA’s Crew-11 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This ground-breaking experiment marks the first time seeds from Nigeria will be sent to space, thanks to a collaboration with The Karman Project and Jaguar Space LLC, two organizations committed to advancing global space cooperation and research.

Oniosun, a leading voice in the African space tech community, shared the significance of this moment via social media, saying “I am sending Egusi seeds to outer space to assess their suitability for nutritional and functional applications in long-term human space exploration.

This is the first time in history seeds from Nigeria will be going to space.” The Egusi seeds, sourced from Oyo State, will be aboard the same launch as payloads managed by NASA Astronaut and U.S.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Jonny Kim, who has been assigned to oversee the transfer of experimental items between the Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft, the ISS, and Crew-10 Dragon.