EUROPE: Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) will for the first time eat food that was grown on the orbiting laboratory after harvesting a crop of ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce.
“Expedition 44 crew members, including Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly, are ready to sample the fruits of their labour after harvesting the crop of red romaine lettuce on Monday from the ‘Veggie’ plant growth system on the nation’s orbiting laboratory,” the US space agency said. The astronauts will clean the leafy vegetables with citric acid-based, food safe sanitising wipes before consuming them.
They will eat half of the space bounty on Monday, setting aside the other half to be packaged and frozen on the station until it can be returned to Earth for scientific analysis. Nasa’s plant experiment, called Veg-01, is being used to study the in-orbit function and performance of the plant growth facility and its rooting “pillows,” which contain the seeds. Nasa is maturing Veggie technology aboard the space station to provide future pioneers with a sustainable food supplement — a critical part of Nasa’s journey to Mars.
As Nasa moves toward long-duration exploration missions farther into the solar system, Veggie will be a resource for crew food growth and consumption. It also could be used by astronauts for recreational gardening activities during deep space missions. The first pillows were activated, watered and cared for by Expedition 39 flight engineer Steve Swanson.
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