Астронавти ядат отгледана в космоса маруля за първи път в историята

Astronauts ate an historic meal of space-grown red romaine lettuce, that they had cultivated themselves, on the International Space Station (ISS), Monday, as part of Expedition 44. The meal marked the first time that humans have eaten food grown in space. Crew members planted the red romaine lettuce in July as part of NASA's plant experiment system 'Veg-01'. The astronauts seemed to enjoy the lettuce, with crew member Scott Kelly saying "this is awesome." After they ate, half of the food was frozen so it could be transported back to Earth for scientific analysis. The vegetable experiment is considered important research as space agencies need to provide fresh fruit and vegetables on long distance journeys, especially if humans really wish to venture to Mars in the future. However the ISS crew already benefit from it, enjoying the fresh produce and the added psychological benefit of gardening during their stay. While the ISS crew were busy harvesting the lettuce, their cosmonaut colleagues conducted a spacewalk, carrying out necessary maintenance work on the space station.