For several years, astronauts have been growing vegetables in their garden on board the International Space Station orbiting 400 kilometers above our heads.
They boasted about their fruits many times, but they were not of the first quality and did not resemble those well-known to us from terrestrial gardens or greengrocers. We must remember that microgravity conditions prevail in the cosmic house every day, so the plants grow there a bit differently,
than it is on the surface of our planet.
You certainly know how difficult the task of producing food under such conditions is.
However, they are not scary for the crew who wanted to eat healthy food, and despite the fact that transport ships provide the best food there, the astronauts started growing their own vegetables, all as part of the cosmic microgravity farm, which was called Veggie.
The astronauts focused on red romaine lettuce.
Several samples of it have already been studied on Earth, but were not good enough to conclude that scientists have mastered the process of growing it in space.
Now that has changed for the better: the latest research shows that cosmic romaine lettuce has the same nutritional value as that of terrestrial gardens, and that's the most important thing.
Scientists have detected a completely different bacterial flora in lettuce, as it is grown under conditions of microgravity and constant temperature and oxygenation of the air.
Despite this, it is completely human friendly and does not contain E. coli or Salmonella enterica. NASA has given the green light to the next crops.
Astronauts now want to focus on kale and cabbage.
For now, the fruits of the space garden will be tasted only by the Station crew, but it is quite possible that sooner or later, e.g. lettuce, will come to Earth and go to some luxurious greengrocer.
And if not, you might taste it on the Moon or Mars someday. The first steps in the world of space gardening and agriculture are extremely important from the point of view of human life in space.
In the future, when we make regular manned flights to Venus and Mars, as well as build space colonies, access to fresh vegetables or fruit will be worth its weight in gold for us.