Small Step for Veggies: Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Lettuce

NASA astronauts on the worldwide Space Station (ISS) have grown the first ever vegetables in space-and are about to eat them.

The station has been experimenting with growing vegetables in space since May 2014.

Astronauts on the global Space Station ate lettuce Monday grown in space, as said by NASA. Only blue and red lights are necessary, but a green light was added in order to appeal to the aesthetic taste of humans.

US astronaut Scott Kelly and other crewmen at the orbiting outpost will taste the lettuce between 11.15am and 12pm (1515-1600 GMT), a NASA spokeswoman.

Before dining on the leafy vegetable, Lindgren first cleaned the lettuce with citric acid-based sanitising wipes. This time around, the crewmembers of Expedition 44, including astronaut Scott Kelly, who is four months into a yearlong space mission, got to enjoy the bounty. This is the batch of plants that will be harvested and consumed by astronauts aboard the ISS before being flown back down to Earth to be further studied.

The seeds of the red romaine lettuce has been contained in rooting pillows and have been activated by Kelly last July 8. Those plants were grown and taken back to earth for safety testing, according to Jeffs.

But only half the space harvest will be eaten, with the remainder to be packaged and frozen before being returned to Earth for scientific analysis. Plants are grown in expandable units that use red, green and blue LEDs to mimic sunlight and grow plants.

“There is evidence that supports fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants”, Dr. Ray Wheeler, a scientist at the Kennedy Space Center, said in a statement. But NASA needs to figure out how to grow food on spacecraft – and on other planets – for future deep space missions such as the one planned to Mars.

NASA hopes to increase the amount of crops in the future, and will be experimenting with growing more food in microgravity.

Experts say that food grow in space could be very beneficial for mental health of astronauts. “I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario”, Dr Massa said.