A flower has bloomed in space for the first time ever, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This gives hopes to astronauts that in the near future they will be able growing other flowering plants in space, like tomatoes. NASA expects that to be possible in the year 2018.
American astronaut Scott Kelly, who has been working on the space laboratory since March 2015, announced on Twitter on Saturday that he successfully coaxed the Zinnia plant to blossom. This is an important accomplishment of the ISS' gardener.
According to Kelly, as reported by The Christian Science Monitor, just less than a month ago the plants were still shriveled and moldy. However, the space researchers have collected and frozen the space mold that held some scientific interest. This will be returned for study on Earth.
The flowering experiment was called "Veggie" by the astronauts on ISS. They will use the experiment to better understand how plants grow in the special environment in space characterized by microgravity. For the team of researchers in space, growing the Zinnia plants is just the first step and an important practice for growing in the future some fresh food on longer space missions.
For now, astronauts consume on ISS mostly food that has been freeze-dried to resist to long storage time. With the supply deliveries, fresh vegetables and fruits arrive only occasionally at the space station, but they run out quickly.
Gioia Massa, the brainchild behind Veggie and a project scientist at NASA Kennedy Space Center, explained in a NASA announcement that the need of growing plants for food in space will respond also to a psychological need of the astronauts. The scientist also declared for The Christian Science Monitor that in the future will be critical to have this fresh food source available in space.
