Ever imagined astronauts growing flowers outside Earth’s atmosphere? Well, this feat has come true at last as a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station grew the edible zinnia, the first flower to be grown in space. Interestingly, these zinnia flowers can be consumed as salads, opening the pandora box of cultivating food sources in the deep-space.
The zinnia flowers were grown inside the Veggie lab aboard ISS which was installed in May 2014. Previously, the ISS astronauts raised two crops of arugula and romaine lettuce. These flowers look almost similar to those grown on earth, except for the curled edges of the petals, a phenomenon that occurs due to the zero-gravity conditions.
Growing these flowers wasn’t an easy task for the astronauts. Apparently, two plants died of dehydration after the fans which were used to dry out the oozing water from the petals exhausted the watery substance inside the leaves.
Alexandra Whitmire, deputy element scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program, said, “Plants can indeed enhance long duration missions in isolated, confined and extreme environments that are artificial and deprived of nature.