NASA's VEG-05 project, astronauts cultivated a host of crops in space..!?
Recently the mystery of a missing space-grown tomato was finally solved after eight months when nasa astronauts found it at a corner of the international Space Station (ISS). The missing tomato became an inside joke amongst the ISS crew when it went missing on march 29, 2023, after being carefully cultivated at the ISS. According to Space.com, Astronaut Frank Rubio was accused of eating the missing tomato. The tomato was gown as part of NASA’s VEG-05 project during which astronauts cultivated a host of crops like tomato, cabbage, and kale in space. In march, each ISS astronaut received samples of the tomatoes after they were successfully harvested.However, the astronauts were cautious about eating the space-grown harvest as there were concerns about potential fungal contamination. Somehow, Astronaut Frank Rubio lost his tomato and the crew joked that he ate it and was feigning ignorance.Finally, on Wednesday, a team of astronauts on the international Space Station (ISS) shared the discovery of the missing tomato in a live-streamed interaction done to celebrate ISS’s 25th anniversary. nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said during the livestream, “Our good friend Frank Rubio, who headed home, has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato."In september, Rubio surpassed the U.S. record for the single longest duration in a spaceflight. He returned to Earth on september 27 after spending 271 days in space. According to nasa, Rubio’s extended stay helped them “see how the human body reacts to microgravity and informs future missions to deep space."