In The Karman Garden: Egyptian Cotton from Sara Sabry

This is the final installment in a four-part series, The Karman Garden, spotlighting the four Karman Community members who are providing seeds for the World Seeds Payload as part of the Karman-Jaguar Earth Seeds for Space partnership. Read more about the partnership here.

Sara Sabry, a 2023 Karman Fellow and biomedical and mechanical engineer, made history as the first Egyptian astronaut, and the first Arab and African woman in space. Now, she’s weaving a new chapter: sending Egyptian cotton seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time.

Egyptian cotton, symbolizing Egypt’s agricultural identity and widely regarded for its superior quality, has also played a key scientific role in space exploration. Researchers have already studied cotton for its adaptability to extreme conditions such as microgravity and varied moisture levels. Building on this body of research, Sabry aims to explore long-term space applications, particularly material development for space habitats and intravehicular garments.

Although Sabry’s PhD research is focused on EVA spacesuit engineering, cotton’s flammability prevents its use in the suits themselves. Instead, she and her team intend to study cotton's genetic response to space-related stressors. This includes examining how cotton can potentially be cultivated on Mars—using Martian simulants to experiment. The goal is to determine if cotton fibers, grown in space, could contribute to creating intravehicular clothing or other materials by altering its genetic makeup for more resilience in space environments.

Sabry's contribution to the Earth Seeds for Space mission stands out for several reasons. Not only is cotton the only non-edible crop in the payload, but Egyptian cotton has never been sent to the ISS before. The species Gossypium barbadense, which makes up roughly 5% of global cotton production, is prized worldwide for its exceptional quality. Sabry views Egyptian cotton as a symbol of Egypt’s agricultural legacy, a vital part of the country's economy, and a representation of the country’s heritage on the global stage. Sabry also plans to engage the Egyptian public by developing educational programs that highlight the importance of space science, sustainability, and agriculture. 

Sabry believes this mission perfectly aligns with The Karman Project’s goal to make space exploration inclusive and accessible to emerging space nations. By sending Egyptian cotton to space, she hopes to represent Egypt’s agricultural significance while advancing space agriculture research. Her approach to this endeavor in many ways extends her work as the founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit organization that works to increase accessibility and opportunity in space research and education, where she focuses on enabling deep space exploration, creating educational opportunities, and empowering emerging nations in the space industry. The mission also uniquely encourages further collaboration between Egypt and other spacefaring countries. As Sabry sees it, including Egyptian cotton in the mission helps to “honor Egypt’s agricultural legacy and highlight the potential for space exploration to support innovations in sustainable agriculture, both in space and on Earth.”

The cotton seeds representing Egypt, provided by Sara Sabry, are scheduled to fly to the ISS with Crew-11 on July 31st and return with Crew-10 in August.