Space salad on menu for astronauts

This Monday (August 10) saw the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) consume the first lettuce they grew in space, Washington Post reports.

The purpose of NASA's experiment, launched last year under the name of Veg-01, was to determine if it was possible to grow certain plants in the orbit, which could be useful for astronauts on some future missions to distant planets, such as, for example, Mars.

There is a greenhouse on ISS since 2002, set up with the aim of giving answer to the question of whether edible food can be grown in microgravity. For security reasons, ISS crew has so far not been allowed to taste plants grown in space.

- It is a well-known fact that fresh groceries, such as tomato, blackberry and lettuce, are an excellent source of antioxidants. Having fresh fruits and vegetables from space gardents at arm's reach could have a great impact on astronauts' general condition and mood and protect them from space radiation - said Ray Wheller from Kennedy Space Center.

According to scientists, "space gardening" is also good for the psychological state of people on the International Space Station because it reminds them of their life on Earth.

NASA SAD

International Space Station

ISS

astronauts

space salad

Veg 01

Mars

food in space

plants in space

Kennedy Space Center

Ray Wheller

space gardening