Gioia Massa and her team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida analyzed three batches of lettuce grown on the International Space Station (ISS) between 2014-2016, and discovered that it’s just as nutritious when grown in space as its Earth counterpart. They compared the space vegetable to lettuce grown on Earth under similar environmental, accounting for relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration and temperature aboard the ISS. Read more for a video and additional information.
After culturing the bacteria found on the lettuce and using DNA sequencing, they discovered that there were even more microorganisms on the lettuce batches from the ISS than on those that were grown on Earth. Red romaine lettuce was chosen for the experiment because its seeds germinate reliably and the astronauts would actually want to consume it as part of their daily meal routine.
- Bring to life the rocket launch that took humans to the moon with the meter-high (approximately 1: 110 scale) model rocket of the NASA Apollo Saturn V
- The Saturn V rocket kit includes 3 removable rocket stages (first, s-ii second, and s-ivb third) below the launch escape system, command and service...
- After building the Saturn V rocket, you can display the spacecraft horizontally with 3 stands; The Lunar Lander docks with the command and service...
The ability to grow food in a sustainable system that is safe for crew consumption will become critical as NASA moves toward longer missions. Salad-type, leafy greens can be grown and consumed fresh with few resources,” said Dr. Christina Khodadad, a researcher at the Kennedy Space Center.
