Hydroponic Lettuce 1st Crop Grown & Consumed In Space

It didn’t get any fresher than this. Earlier today, Astronauts Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan sampled the fruits of their labor after harvesting a crop of “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce from the Veggie hydroponic plant growth system on the International Space Station! While a crop of the hydroponic lettuce had been harvested in early July, this was the first harvest that the astronauts actually were able to consume.

During the hydroponic lettuce tasting inside, outside the International Space Station, Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) were conducting a spacewalk to replace and upgrade experiment and communications equipment on the Russian segment of the complex. Lettuce samples were saved for the two Russian cosmonauts for them to enjoy upon completion of their work.