In progress for the space plant study, the first plant transplant was carried out at the International Space Station’s Veggie Production System (Veggie) facility.
NASA is studying crop production in space as plants can feed astronaut crews on long-term missions, such as missions to Mars.
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, a member of the Expedition 64 crew, who arrived at the station for a six-month science mission aboard the SpaceX Crew-1 mission, observed different types of mustard and lettuce in VEG-03I.
He noticed that the mustards grew well in their special “pillows” which contained growth media based on clay and fertilizer.
Two plant pillows containing Red Romaine and ‘Dragoon’ Lettuce seeds were slow growing, growing well behind the other plants. However, with input from Kennedy’s Veggie program scientists, the astronaut added extra sprouts from the successful plant pillows to two of the struggling pillows.
The transplants – ‘Red Russian’ cabbage and ‘Extra Dwarf’ pak choi – survive and thrive alongside the donor kale and pak choi. The remaining red romaine lettu and “Wasabi” mustard in the test are also ready for harvest.
“This test is just amazing; it shows the skill of the astronauts, the care they take to make things, and also the differences you see in microgravity, ”said Gioia Massa, Veggie Program Vegetable Scientist. “Beer behaves very differently in space than on earth. The behavior of liquids – in this case – seems to have helped the plants. ”
“We are used to making microgravity work against us in the fluids / physics sector, making space-growing plants very difficult,” said Matt Romeyn, VEG-03I director of science. “So there is an exception like this, where microgravity seems to be useful and the plants are growing better than on Earth… that is surprising. ”