CNN Indonesia
Tuesday, 26 Dec 2023 09:54 IWST
A tomato that was lost in space eight months ago has been found. (NASA)
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Tomato the first to be planted on the International Space Station (ISS) had disappeared for a year, but recently the tomato was found.
In an interview after returning to Earth from the ISS, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio told an interesting story from his mission on the ISS, namely about the tomatoes he planted there.
Initially, he harvested one of the first tomatoes grown in space and bagged it for presentation. Unfortunately, the bag and its contents were lost after that. The other astronauts jokingly accused Rubio of eating it, because there was no trace of the missing tomato.
Eight months later in early December, the missing tomatoes reappeared.
A photo shared by NASA shows two tomatoes in the missing sample. Overall, the tomatoes didn’t look too bad.
Those tomatoes on Earth would look bad, but for tomatoes grown in space they just look a little dry.
“Other than some discoloration, there was no visible microbial or fungal growth,” it wrote NASA in his page.
Astronaut gardening in space. (NASA)
NASA has spent years experimenting with various ways to grow food on the ISS and studying how the space environment affects plant growth.
The red mini tomatoes were grown as part of a program called the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System, or XROOTS, which uses a combination of hydroponic and aeroponic techniques instead of soil.
Rubio, who was on the ISS for 371 days, harvested a batch of tomatoes in March to send back to Earth and examine for VEG-05 research.
Unfortunately, the tomatoes he was supposed to show to school children at an event planned by the team disappeared.
“I was pretty sure I had put the Velcro where it was supposed to be, and then I came back and the tomato was gone,” he said.
Quoted from Engadget, Rubio said he spent “eight to 20 hours” searching for it, but was unsuccessful. Now that these tomatoes have appeared, Rubio is eager to know where they have been hiding all this time.
(lom/arh)
2023-12-26 02:54:32
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