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International Space Station Houses First Flowers Bloomed In Space

By Thomas Kuegler
Published on: 02:41 PST, Jan 18, 2016

The International Space Station recently grew the first flower that’s ever bloomed in space. In an age where mankind has already been to the moon, it’s both surprising and interesting that we still haven’t been able to grow vegetation in outer space–until now.

The Christian Science Monitor says that NASA would like to grow other plants, like tomatoes, in space by 2018. Meanwhile, the blossoming flower was a Zinnia, and it wasn’t an easy road to get it to full maturity.

Less than a month ago, the flowers were moldy and shrivelled, but it looks like they’re doing just fine now.

The Tech Times reported that scientists also grew red romaine lettuce in 2015, and that NASA wanted to figure out how flowering plants might hold up.

“The zinnia plant is very different from lettuce,” says Vegetable project manager Trent Smith. “Thus, it is a more difficult plant to grow, and allowing it to flower, along with the longer growth duration, makes it a good precursor to a tomato plant,” he finished.

The Zinnia is sensitive to environmental and lighting parameters in its infancy, and has a longer growth period of 60 to 80 days, making it difficult to grow.

The good news for crew members is that the Zinnia is edible, and is a common ingredient in salads. As NASA keeps discussing a manned mission to Mars, it’s becoming increasingly important for them to understand how to grow plants in outer space.

“The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits,” says Dr. Gioia Massa, Vegetable science team leader for NASA. “I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario.”

The flowering experiment is called Veggie, and it’s dedicated to helping astronauts better understand growing plants in microgravity. The program started in 2014, and one of the first breakthroughs was growing the red romaine lettuce in 2015.

But just because the astronauts had so much success doesn’t mean it came easy. The first batch of lettuce didn’t quite make it due to “drought stress.”

“We lost two plants due to drought stress in the first grow out and thus were very vigilant with respect to the second crop,” said Trent Smith.

“While the plants haven’t grown perfectly,” said Dr. Gioia Massa, “I think we have gained a lot from this, and we are learning both more about plants and fluids and also how better to operate between ground and station. Regardless of final flowering outcome, we will have gained a lot.”

If NASA is ever going to launch a manned mission to Mars, growing plants might be about more than survival.

“In future missions, the importance of plants will likely increase given the crews’ limited connection to Earth,” Whitmire said. “Studies from other isolated and confined environments, such as Antarctic stations, demonstrate the importance of plants in confinement, and how much more salient fresh food becomes psychologically, when there is little stimuli around.”

Just like gardening has done for so many people on earth, it will give the astronauts something constructive to do while they’re away from their family for years and years. More testing is happening on the space station right now, and hopefully, by 2018, the first tomatoes can be grown in outer space.

[Photo by NASA/Getty Images]

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