Space salad: Astronauts grow vegetables in space

“Bon appetit!” Scott Kelly, the station’s US commander, bid Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui, his fellow astronauts, as they each took a leaf.

The seeds of the red romaine lettuce has been contained in rooting pillows and have been activated by Kelly last July 8.

Once the seeds were placed in soil and fertilizer, an irrigation system sent water through the bottom of the plants in order to provide the plants the necessary nutrients, despite the lack of gravity.

The plants are housed in a collapsible and expandable Veggie unit, featuring a flat panel light bank of red, blue and green LEDs for plant growth and observation.

“There is evidence that supports the idea that fresh foods such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants”, said NASA scientist Dr Ray Wheeler.

NASA has grown food in space for research purposes for years, but this is the first time astronauts have been allowed to eat any. It uses efficient red and blue lights for the growth of the plants. Half of the produce will be frozen on the station until it can be sent back to earth for analysis.

“Chomp! Our first veggies were harvested & consumed by astronauts in space!”, added NASA, tweeting an image of Kelly enjoying his historic meal.

Nasa’s ultimate aim with the experiment is to find sustainable ways for astronauts to augment traditional rations on board long-distance space missions.

NASA said that the astronauts will clean the lettuce with citric-acid-based sanitizing wipes-which sounds like a awful dressing, frankly-before eating half of their harvest on Monday, August 10. Growing fresh food also helps to recycle the air in spacecraft, converting carbon dioxide exhaled by the astronauts back to oxygen. These are the salad days of scientific research on the global Space Station.

Ms Massa said having something green and growing – a little piece of Earth in space – to take care of when living and working in an extreme and stressful environment could have a significant impact.

“As NASA moves toward long-duration exploration missions farther into the solar system, Veggie will be a resource for crew food growth and consumption”, explained NASA, in a statement.