The first food grown and harvested in space – a crop of red lettuce – was eaten by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on August 10, 2015. The lettuce was grown for 15 months with a system called Veg-01, which uses red, blue, and green LED lights to grow plants in a small space. The growth of plants in outer space has elicited much scientific interest. In January 2016, U.S. astronauts announced that a zinnia had blossomed aboard the ISS. Growing plants in space is an active area of research. The latest being the experiments conducted by China’s Chang’s 4 lunar lander. On January 15, 2019, it was reported that cottonseed, rapeseed, and potato seeds had sprouted in the Lunar Micro Ecosystem, a sealed biosphere cylinder that Chang’e-4 had carried with it.
“There is evidence that supports fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce, are a good source of antioxidants,” Ray Wheeler, the project’s lead researcher, told NASA’s website. “Having fresh food like these available in space could have a positive impact on people’s moods and also could provide some protection against radiation in space.”
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