Members of the International Space Station crew are preparing to get their first taste of veggies grown in space, as the astronauts will be sampling red romaine lettuce leaves harvested from the plant growth system on board the orbiting laboratory today!
According to Gizmodo, once picked, the greens will be carefully cleaned using citric acid-based sanitizing wipes. Half of the harvest will be consumed fresh, while the other half will be packed, frozen, and sent back to Earth, where it will be carefully analyzed by NASA scientists.
The lettuce was grown using the ISS’s Veggie plant growth system, which was developed by a team at Orbital Technologies Corp. in Wisconsin and tested at the Kennedy Space Center before being sent to the space station. The plant experiment, dubbed Veg-01, is being used to study the in-orbit performance of the facility, NASA explained in a statement.
The lettuce seeds, which are contained in a rooting “pillow”, were planted on July 8 by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. They spent 33 days growing underneath red, green, and blue LEDs, which provide light for photosynthesis and helped to give the lettuce a more natural color.
Veggies could help astronauts physically, psychologically
The Veggie unit was developed by a team of engineers and collaborators including Dr. Ray Wheeler, chief of Advanced Life Support activities at the Exploration Research and Technology Programs Office at Kennedy, Dr. Gioia Massa, and Dr. Gary Stutte. All three previously studied plant-growing experiments at NASA’s Arizona-based Habitat Demonstration Unit.
According to Wheeler, Veggie will help NASA learn more about growing plants in a controlled-environment agricultural setting, and he explained that there is evidence to support the idea that fresh fruits and vegetables can be a good source of antioxidants. Having these goods available in space could improve the mood of astronauts and help protect them from harmful radiation.
“Future spaceflight missions could involve four to six crew members living in a confined space for an extended period of time, with limited communication,” said Whitmire. “We recognize it will be important to provide training that will be effective and equip the crew with adequate countermeasures during their mission.”
“Besides having the ability to grow and eat fresh food in space, there also may be a psychological benefit,” Massa added. “The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling, and psychological benefits. I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario.”
(Image credit: NASA)
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