Astronauts Get First Taste of Veggies Harvested in Space - East Idaho News
Science & Technology

Astronauts Get First Taste of Veggies Harvested in Space

  Published at  | Updated at

ht space salad 02 mm 150810 16x9 992?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1439222949385NASA(NEW YORK) — For the first time ever, NASA astronauts are set to dine Monday on “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce grown in the micro gravity environment at the International Space Station.

The harvest comes from NASA’s Veg-01 experiment, which is studying how plants grow in orbit — potentially giving astronauts on future long-haul missions the ability to grow their own meals and enjoy fresh produce in space.

“There is evidence that supports fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants,” Dr. Ray Wheeler, the lead for Advanced Life Support activities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, said in a statement. “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.”

Before dining on the leafy vegetable, astronauts will first clean the heads of lettuce with citric acid-based sanitizing wipes. The other half of the produce will be packaged, frozen and sent back to Earth at a later date where it will be analyzed by scientists.

Scott Kelly, who is spending one year in space, served as the resident gardener, activating the plant pillows containing the seeds on July 8, allowing them to grow for 33 days before being harvested.

Monday’s bounty will come from the second ever space harvest and will be the first time astronauts will be allowed to dine on the fresh space-grown produce. (An initial harvest was sent back to Earth in October 2014 for food safety analysis.)

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

SUBMIT A CORRECTION