According to a press release from NASA, after the first crop grown by Veg-01 was returned from the ISS last year, Gioia Massa, NASA’s payload scientist for the experiment, began working with flight doctors and safety representatives to get approval for the crew to eat the produce.
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Both spacecraft have performed very well, showing that expandable modules can handle the space environment, Gold said.
Additionally, Kelly has a twin brother who is also a NASA astronaut to compare the results to.
Yeah, it’s just lettuce, but the ability to grow fresh fruit and veg in space is a massive deal.
They’ve achieved it with the Vegetable Production System (known as Veggie), which grows plants on “pillows” using an array of LED lights.
Boeing and SpaceX won a combined $6.8 billion in NASA contracts in 2014 to develop crew capsules to carry U.S. and partner astronauts to and from the space station.
Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate said that the early career researchers will help come up with fuel for innovation engine of NASA.
“We recognise it will be important to provide training that will be effective and equip the crew with adequate countermeasures during their mission”. These electrical discharges can extend as high as 55 miles (90 kilometers) into the atmosphere, with the brightest region usually around altitudes of 40-45 miles (65-75 km). However, the journey to the “red planet” would take too long given the distance and maximum spaceship speed today’s technology can provide. Solving some of those stresses could include things like growing plants in space habitats.
With its interest in manned missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA is looking for renewable ways to feed its astronauts for the long haul.
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The project – called Synthetic Biology for Recycling Human Waste into Food, Nutraceuticals, and Materials: Closing the Loop for Long-Term Space Travel – is run by Mark Blenner of Clemson University in South Carolina.
