NASA: Space Agriculture Key to the Success of Future Human Missions to the Moon, Mars and Beyond

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has recently revealed some photos featuring a variety of edible plants growing in the International Space Station’s Columbus laboratory module. The freshly grown “space veggies”, as NASA called it, include pak choi, wasabi mustard, kale, and red romaine.

Below is the tweet made by the ISS Research (@ISS_Research) Twitter account, NASA’s official source for research and science from the International Space Station, on February 2, 2021.

It’s harvest day!🥬For the past few weeks, the @Space_Station crew has been tending to Extra Dwarf pak choi, mustard, kale and red romaine lettuce as a part of the Veg-03 experiment. Today the astronauts will pick and sample some of their freshly grown space veggies. pic.twitter.com/CGcdjoIkaU

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) February 2, 2021

According to NASA, Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins picked some edible plants in the station and snacked on the leaves with his crewmates for a taste test. They also stowed samples for analysis as part of the Veg-3 botany study. “Space agriculture is key to the success and sustainability of future human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” NASA stated.

The Exp 64 crew worked science hardware and spacesuit maintenance today following Tuesday’s harvest. More… https://t.co/Ti3pdiaGl3 pic.twitter.com/Q5BZS6gvzt

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) February 3, 2021

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Source: NASA| Space Station, ISS Research| Official Twitter, International Space Station| Official Twitter, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center