The world will witness a historic moment Monday night as astronauts on the International Space Station eat, for the first time ever, space-grown romaine lettuce. Photographs beamed back to Earth show the harvested leafy vegetable, which they call Outredgeous red romaine lettuce, being prepped for the coming "feast."
The seemingly simple chore of growing the vegetable in space is considered a milestone because it establishes the possibility of astronauts having their own food source as they explore deep space. The goal is easier said than done considering the absence of gravity, space limitation and the lack of water in the space station. NASA had to create a specially-designed capsule called Veggie that would make it possible to achieve plant growth, HNGN earlier reported. The plants had to make do with LED lights instead of sunlight to help grow.
With the success of the lettuce cultivation, NASA is looking at the possibility of adding vegetable and fruit varieties to the space veggie patch such as tomatoes and blueberries. "Having fresh food like these available in space could have a positive impact on people's moods, and also could provide some protection against radiation in space," said Ray Wheeler, one of NASA's lead researchers, in Pioneer News.
NASA also noted that growing vegetables can be a useful hobby for astronauts who must endure long missions in space, especially now that a possible Mars expedition is close at hand, reported the Mirror.
The Outredgeous lettuce was not the first edible vegetable to be grown in space. A first batch was grown in May 2014 and sent back to Earth after 33 days to be studied for food safety, reported Slash Gear.
