It's the first time lettuce officially on the menu for NASA astronauts

                                              

Monday of 2015/8/10 on the International Space Station is a special day for lettuce to be officially introduced on the menu for NASA astronauts. This isn't just any lettuce. It's part of a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce grown on the space station.

"Fresh food grown in the microgravity environment of space officially is on the menu for the first time for NASA astronauts," NASA said in a statement. It’s not the first time food was grown on a space station, it made clear. "For decades, NASA and other agencies have experimented with plants in space, but the results were always sent to earth for examination, rather than eaten," NASA said.

The astronauts get plenty of prepared foods shipped up by supply ships. But NASA needs to figure out how to grow food on spacecraft -- and on other planets -- for future deep space missions such as the one planned to Mars. The space agency plans to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.Besides, gardening is fun on Earth, and NASA said astronauts likely will use it as a recreational activity on long missions.

                                           

The lettuce was grown aeroponically--in an air or mist environment without soil--in the space station's Veggie plant growth system. Plants grown aeroponically require far less water and fertilizer, don't need pesticide, are much less prone to disease, and grow up to three times faster than plants grown in soil, NASA said.

The developing root systems grow in an enclosed, air-based environment that is regularly misted with a fine, nutrient-rich spray.  A grower clips the leaves of plants grown in the openings of an aeroponic chamber.

Aeroponic growing systems provide clean, efficient, and rapid food production. Crops can be planted and harvested in the system year round without interruption, and without contamination from soil, pesticides, and residue. Since the growing environment is clean and sterile, it greatly reduces the chances of spreading plant disease and infection commonly found in soil and other growing media.

Aeroponics systems can reduce water usage by 98 percent, fertilizer usage by 60 percent, and pesticide usage by 100 percent, all while maximizing crop yields. Plants grown in the aeroponic systems have also been shown to uptake more minerals and vitamins, making the plants healthier and potentially more nutritious.

                                          

Taiwan Chicfarm (www.chicfarm.net)has successfully applied this technique and transformed it into an aeroponics home garden. With technology like this, jumping over the moon or eating pure clean, no pesticide vegetables won't be reserved for fairy tales.

The aeroponics system was tested at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the plants were checked for safety. Still, half the crew's harvest will be sent back to Earth for more testing. And to be even safer, the astronauts will clean the lettuce with citric acid-based, food-safe sanitizing wipes before eating it.

The crew seems excited about the lettuce. Astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren took to Twitter to share images of their crop. Kelly and Lindgren are the only two NASA astronauts on the space station now. The other crew members are Russians Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. Maybe Kelly and Lindgren will save them enough lettuce for at least a side salad.