Expedition 44 crew members, including NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, will on Monday sample the fruits of their labour after they harvested a crop of “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce from the “veggie plant” growth system on the orbiting laboratory for 33 days.
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This isn’t the first time astronauts have harvested greens in space, but it is the first time astronauts were allowed to dine on the fresh space-grown produce.
While locally grown produce has gained popularity across the U.S.in recent years, no one has taken that sentiment more seriously than NASA, which has started experimenting with growing food in space. “The plants will be harvested for further investigation and consumed by the crewmembers”.
The astronauts will eat half of their lettuce crop, setting aside the rest to be packaged and frozen for analysis.
Astronauts might feel a little closer to Earth while in the stressful space environment if they have something to care for – like a plant, NASA said.
This lettuce, which is grown in rooting “pillows”, that contain the seeds, was started by Kelly on July 8 and grown for 33 days. It’s not known what other foodstuffs are on the menu today, though presumably a freshly cooked pizza from a spacecraft-ready 3D food printer would be a popular accompaniment.
The plant-growing experiment for space was tested in 2010 and 2011 at the Habitat Demonstration Unit at NASA’s desert test site in Arizona.
A facility like this is considered essential for longer missions into deep space, as the amount of food required for such journeys would be too great to carry from Earth.
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Displaying their teamwork spirit the astronauts said they would be saving some of the leafy greens for their cosmonaut colleagues who were busy conducting a spacewalk outside the global Space Station. “Having the ability for us to grow our own food is a big step in that direction”, he said. “I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario”.
