[debut du texte]In August 2012, more than 60 invited scientists and representatives of space agencies from different continents, nationalities and disciplines attended the international workshop on ‘Plant Biology Research in Space’, held at the University of Freiburg, Germany. This workshop – jointly organised by the French and German space agencies, CNES and DLR – was embedded as satellite symposium into the Plant Biology Congress 2012, held by FESPB and EPSO, the two leading European organisations involved in plant research. Using this setup, it was also hoped that scientists from the so-called nonspace community would be attracted to the specific topic of plant biology in space. This idea proved very successful: more than 600 participants attended – for instance – the plenary lecture from Stan Roux on ‘New insights in plant biology gained from space research’.