One small step for man. One giant leap for lettuce lovers everywhere.
In a recording breaking bite, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) taste-tested the first-ever space-grown lettuce yesterday.
According to NASA, Expedition 44 crew members cleaned their home-grown red romaine lettuce with citric acid based, food sanitizing wipes and then took a bite. They were able to eat half of the lettuce before packaging and freezing the rest of their space-grown crop for further analysis and study on Earth.
The lettuce is part of plant experiment Veg-01. NASA is studying the viability and performance of its plant growth hardware and rooting pillows that are used to grow seeds in outer space. The hopes are this system will be able to provide sustainable food for future space endeavors, including the Journey to mars.
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