Astronauts get to munch on the vegetables of their own labour: lettuce they grew in space

CP34150900
This handout photo provided by NASA shows a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth system that tests hardware for growing vegetables and other plants in space on the International Space Station. These are the salad days of scientific research on the International Space Station. On Monday, for the first time astronauts munched on red romaine lettuce that they grew in space themselves. (NASA via AP)

WASHINGTON – These are the salad days of scientific research on the International Space Station. On Monday, for the first time astronauts munched on red romaine lettuce that they grew in space.

After clicking their lettuce leaves like wine glasses, three astronauts tasted them with a bit of Italian balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.

Astronaut Kjell Lindgren pronounced it awesome, while Scott Kelly compared the taste to arugula. They talked about how the veggies added colour to life in space.

If astronauts are to go farther in space, they will need to grow their own food and this was an experiment to test that.

Astronauts grew space station lettuce last year but had to ship it back to Earth for testing and didn’t get to taste it.

News from © The Associated Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Associated Press

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.

Related Articles