In an interview after returning to Earth from the International Space Station this fall, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio talked about his small mission. anecdote After he harvested one of the first tomatoes grown in space and packed it into a bag for presentation, the bag and its contents went missing. There was no trace of the fruit, and the other astronauts jokingly accused Rubio of eating it. Eight months later, in early December, the tomatoes that had disappeared reappeared.Photos shared by NASA This time it shows that there were actually two tomatoes in the fraudulent sample. And all things considered, they don’t seem half bad.
It’s not pleasant to come across tomatoes left to rot on Earth, but Rubio’s tomatoes look a little dry. “Aside from some discoloration, there was no visible microbial or fungal growth,” NASA wrote in a blog post.
One small step for tomatoes, one giant leap for plants. 🍅
Two rogue tomatoes were recovered after roaming around the station for nearly a year. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio accidentally loses fruit while harvesting XROOTS, a soilless plant experiment. https://t.co/ymAP24fxaX pic.twitter.com/AeIV8i6QKR
— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) December 14, 2023
For years, NASA has been experimenting with ways to grow food on the ISS and studying how the space environment affects plant growth. The red dwarf tomatoes were grown as part of a program called the Exposed Root-on-Orbit Test System (XROOTS), which combines hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to replace soil. Rubio spent a record-breaking 371 days on the ISS before returning in September 2023. March tomatoes It will be sent back to Earth and examined for VEG-05 research.
As for the sample Rubio had been hanging, the astronaut said he intended to show it to schoolchildren at an event the crew had planned, but the tomatoes simply disappeared. “I was confident I had Velcroed it where it was supposed to be, but when I came back it was gone,” he said. Rubio spent “8 to 20 hours” searching to no avail, he said. Now that they’ve surfaced (and been abandoned), we’re dying to know where they’ve been hiding all along. We’ve reached out to NASA and will update this article if we learn more.