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Frank Rubio, a NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 flight engineer, became a pioneer when he grew and harvested one of the first tomatoes grown in space in March of this year.
Koichi Wakata/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency/NASA
It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes seven astronauts to find a lost tomato in space.
NASA astronaut and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Frank Rubio became a pioneer when he grew and harvested one of the first tomatoes grown in space in March of this year.
But one day, when it mysteriously went missing, people thought he had eaten it.
“I was pretty confident that I Velcroed it where it was supposed to Velcro,” he said at a NASA briefing after the spaceflight. “And when I came back, it was gone.”
Rubio had just become the longest single American spaceflight, spending 371 days in low Earth orbit.
“Rubio’s space travel exemplifies the essence of exploration,” NASA said in a statement, saying it was forgiving Rubio for his lost accomplishments.
Rubio grew tomatoes aboard the International Space Station, a modular space station that works with space agencies from the United States, Japan, Europe, Russia and Canada.
Because of the microgravity that exists onboard a ship, unrestrained items often float uncontrollably.
Rubio suspected this happened with tomatoes.
“I spent hours looking for it,” he said.
“I wanted to find a tomato to prove I didn’t eat one.”
“One day, many years from now, sun-dried tomatoes will show up and prove me right.”
Luckily, he only had to wait a little over two months.
ISS members revealed they discovered it during a broadcast on Wednesday celebrating the station’s 25th anniversary.
“Our good friend Frank Rubio has been accused of eating tomatoes for quite some time. But we can prove his innocence,” he told the station in August. said astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli.
The condition of the tomatoes could not be confirmed.
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