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4 December 2020, 16:04:54
Radishes were chosen as they are fairly well understood by scientists and reach maturity in just 27 days.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvested the first radish crop grown on the International Space Station on November 30.
The radish crop, which the space agency described as a “historic crop” was part of NASA’s plant experiment, Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) which seeks to understand how plants grow in microgravity conditions, has the space agency said in a press release.
Radishes were grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), a growth chamber for plant research. The chamber, along with its LED lights and controlled release fertilizer release, delivers water, nutrients and oxygen to the plant roots.
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Radishes were chosen as they are fairly well understood by scientists and reach maturity in just 27 days. The space agency also released a time-lapse video that tracked the growth of the vegetables.
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The meticulously harvested vegetables are now wrapped in tinfoil and stored in cold storage to be returned to Earth in 2021 during SpaceX’s 22nd commercial refueling services mission.
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This is not the first time that scientists have managed to grow plants in space. With the help of The Vegetable Production System, known as Veggie, the space station has successfully grown a variety of plants, including three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, Russian red cabbage, and zinnia flowers.
The “space garden” aboard the International Space Station will help NASA study plant growth in microgravity conditions by adding fresh food to the astronauts’ diet and improving their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.
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