NASA astronaut harvests first radish crop grown on the ISS

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has joined a proud lineage of space gardeners. It harvested the first radish crop ever grown on the International Space Station on November 30 and NASA described it as a “historic crop”.

Astronauts have previously grown a variety of vegetables, including lettuce, cabbage, mustard and cabbage. While some of these ended up on the menu, many were sent back to Earth for analysis. That’s what’s happening with the 20 radishes Rubins collected.

The plants are part of an experiment called Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02). “Growing a wide range of crops helps us determine which plants thrive in microgravity conditions and offer the best variety and nutritional balance for astronauts on long-duration missions,” Nicole Dufour, head of NASA said Wednesday in a statement from NASA. of the plant habitat program.

It took 27 days for the plants to reach maturity. NASA compiled their growth in a short time-lapse video.

The film-wrapped space radishes are now stored in cold storage awaiting a trip to Earth next year. The Advanced Plant Habitat team on Earth grew a control crop for comparison. Next is another ISS crop from seed.

Plant experiments aim to one day provide fresh food to astronauts on their way to the Moon and Mars. Nobody wants to live on freeze-dried food for months or years at a time, so researchers have been looking into it all since cultured meat for Microbial mash similar to vegemite made from human waste.

A fresh space salad with sliced ​​radishes would be a delicacy on Mars.