Now space lettuce on the menu for International Space Station

The evergreen subject of juicy burgers and salads is never complete without that cold crunchy leaf that is lettuce. This humble lettuce has also been an idea of experimentation of cultivating it in microgravity. In the last few years, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been trying to establish if the vegetable is a viable source of fresh food that can be grown and eaten in space.

Firstly, the sequence of experiments that have been conducted show positive results. Yes, growing lettuce successfully in microgravity is possible in the environment of the ISS. The subsequent step was the determination of the fact that whether the lettuce was safe for consumption. Expedition 45 crew members Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui consumed the “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce in August 2015.

The most recent phase called Veg-03 was initiated on October 25, following the Veg-01 validation test. Veg-03 is testing the modified water delivery system, and a different crop with different requirements. This first crop in the mini-greenhouse known as Veggie was previously tested red romaines.

Under the care of Expedition 19 crew member Shane Kimbrough, the six lettuces were grown simultaneously for the same time. Although the crop was successful, it wasn’t without glitches.

“During their first week of life, the small seedlings were getting too much water,” said earth-based Veggie project manager Nicole Dufour in a statement. “This put the plants’ growth a bit behind schedule, but they recovered nicely after we instructed Kimbrough to use a fan to dry up some of the moisture.”

Kimbrough harvested the lettuces using the “cut-and-come-again” method, which leaves the plant’s core and some leaves intact, so that it will regrow and can bee re-harvested back in the future. Some of the leaves were by Kimbrough, and some were sent back to Earth for testing. Also stated was that the future harvests were to be consumed by ISS crewmembers.

This idea of growing vegetables has several benefits. It will supplement the astronauts’ diet which will be fresh and nutritious, and will also work towards decreasing the amount of food needed to be sent from Earth.

A longer-term goal is to help solve the problem of how astronauts fed on a mission to Mars, which NASA is planning for the 2030s.

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