Astronauts eat lettuce grown in space

IN A giant leaf for mankind and the Mars mission, astronauts have bitten into lettuce grown aboard the orbiting International Space Station.

This NASA handout photo released August 5, 2015, taken by Astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station(ISS) shows lettuce growing during the VEGGIE hardware validation test. VEGGIE provides lighting and nutrient supply for plants in the form of a low-cost growth chamber and planting "pillows" -- helping provide nutrients for the root system. It supports a variety of plant species that can be cultivated for educational outreach, fresh food and even recreation for crew members on long-duration missions. The red romaine lettuce was grown in a special plant-growing box called Veg-01, and was flown to space aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship. The seeds are contained in rooting pillows, and were "activated" by Kelly on July 8, NASA said. The plants grew for 33 days before being harvested. US astronaut Scott Kelly and other crewmen at the orbiting outpost will taste the lettuce between 11:15 am and 12 pm (1515-1600 GMT), a NASA spokeswoman told AFP. AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA "/ NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==

IT’S the final frontier on the cosmic menu.

Members of the International Space Station Expedition 44 crew have taken their first bites of “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce grown in inside the Zero-G.

According to a statement, the astronauts cleaned the leafy vegetables with citric acid-based, food safe sanitising wipes before eating them.

They will eat half of the bounty, and the rest will be returned to Earth for testing.

Crew tastes red romaine lettuce with oil & vinegar for #NASAVeggie study and #JourneyToMars... http://t.co/C7LVQGyw5P pic.twitter.com/YkB4xVmNuW

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 10, 2015

Inside the @Space_Station's @ESA Columbus module, the crew is getting ready to harvest space-grown lettuce. pic.twitter.com/noiTeDyGJW

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 10, 2015

NASA said US astronaut Scott Kelly and other crewmen at the orbiting outpost tasted the lettuce early Monday.

Favorite payload on @Space_station is Veggie! Fun watching these grow. Almost sad to eat them tomorrow. Almost. pic.twitter.com/jaIonmmreH

— Kjell Lindgren (@astro_kjell) August 9, 2015

Tomorrow we'll eat the anticipated veggie harvest on @space_station! But first, lettuce take a #selfie. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/fUKQMhEDjK

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 9, 2015

NASA researchers are hoping to determine whether these fresh vegetables have an impact on the physical and psychological health of astronauts.

“There is evidence that supports fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants,” Ray Wheeler, lead for Advanced Life Support activities in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs Office at Kennedy Space Centre, said.

“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.”

The orbiting lab has hosted the space station’s “Veg-01” experiments in growing vegetables in space since May 2014, with the first seeds were activated in the mini greenhouse known as “Veggie”.

The plants were cultivated for 33 days aboard the ISS and sent back to Earth for safety testing.

Plant research is "all consuming" as crew preps to sample leafy greens grown on @Space_Station http://t.co/L7Y6A2rLQV pic.twitter.com/9TuwDKOJX1

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) August 7, 2015

The second batch of seeds (on board the ISS for 15 months) was planted in July and grown over 33 days. This was the batch being tasted by ISS crew.

Scientists say space-grown leafy greens is another step toward enabling human missions to Mars.

“The Veggie experiment is currently the only experiment we are supporting which involves evaluating the effects of plant life on humans in space,” Alexandra Whitmire, behavioural health and performance research scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program, said.

“Future spaceflight missions could involve four to six crew members living in a confined space for an extended period of time, with limited communication. We recognise it will be important to provide training that will be effective and equip the crew with adequate countermeasures during their mission.”