Page 110 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

What is space salad?

How to grow vegetables that are out of this world Veggie benefits

eliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables are At the top of the chamber, LEDs provide light for Growing vegetables on the ISS doesn’t just have
rare on the ISS, so astronauts’ diets mostly photosynthesis as well as a sense of direction to nutritional benefits for the crew; it can also
Dconsist of pre-packaged, non-perishable keep the shoots growing upwards. A mixture of red improve their psychological wellbeing too. A bit of
foods. However, thanks to the Vegetable and blue light is used as these are the colours of greenery provides some relief from the metallic,
Production System, or Veggie, being used on light plants use most, but the resulting purple hue lifeless environment of the space station and
board, this is starting to change. makes the plants appear grey and unappetising. allows the astronauts to form a connection with a
The Veggie plant growth chamber uses plant Therefore, to make their crops look more living thing. This will be particularly important for
pillows: small bags of slow-release fertiliser and a appealing, the astronauts can switch on additional the deep space missions to an asteroid, and then
clay-like soil that is also used on baseball fields. green LEDs, which combine with the red and blue Mars, that NASA is currently planning. For small
These pillows are placed in a reservoir of water to create a more natural white light. The first crews, living in a confined space with limited
communication for an extended period of time,
and have wicks inserted into them to draw the Veggie crop was harvested in 2014 but it had to be having a little piece of Earth to care for will help
liquid into the soil. Plant seeds are glued onto frozen and returned to Earth for analysis to make them cope with the stressful and isolated
these wicks to make sure they grow the right way sure it was safe to eat. Once approved for environment, as well as provide them with a
up in the zero gravity environment – that the roots consumption, a second crop was grown and on 10 sustainable food source. The tech used in the
grow down into the soil and the shoots pop out the August 2015, the Expedition 44 crew became the Veggie system is also proving useful much closer
top of the pillows. first humans to sample space-grown produce. to home, with countries such as Dubai using it to
maintain a controlled plant-growing environment
in their hot and dry climates.

Future spacecraft heading on
deep space missions could have
entire gardens on board

Growing plants in space has nutritional and
psychological benefits for astronauts

The first produce to be grown,
harvested and eaten in space
was red romaine lettuce
The history of space food

1962-1964 1965-1967 1968–1972 1973-1979 1980-1999 2000-today

The first space foods NASA’s Gemini The Apollo The Skylab space Astronauts on the On the ISS, the
were pastes that missions had missions were station had a Space Shuttle menu consists of
were squeezed from freeze-dried meals, the first to have hot dining table, missions could frozen, refrigerated
tubes and cubes of including shrimp water, which made onboard design their own and ambient foods,
dehydrated food that cocktail and butterscotch rehydrating food refrigeration, food menus and heat and sometimes
were rehydrated by pudding, which were rehydrated easier, and utensils in warming trays and 72 their food in an meals designed by © NASA
saliva in the mouth. by injecting water into the packet. the form of spoons. different food items. onboard oven. celebrity chefs.

110 How It Works