Nasa astronaut harvests first batch of cabbage on the International Space Station

Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson has successfully managed to harvest the first batch of cabbage on the International Space Station (ISS). Whitson spent over a month tending to the crop, which was a delicate operation considering only six seeds of the cabbage were available. One of the seeds appeared to be planted at a shallower level than the rest, and did not seem to have germinated initially, but Whitson managed to coax the plant to grow. Cabbage is the fifth crop to be harvested on board the ISS.

https://twitter.com/AstroPeggy/status/829365705363578880

The space station crew will eat some of the cabbage, but the rest of the harvest will be saved for further study on the ground, at the Kennedy Space Center. Cabbage was chosen from a number of samples based on several criteria, including how well the plants grow and their nutritional value. Four shortlisted candidates were further tested at the Johnson Space Center’s Space Food Systems team for taste, and the cabbages turned out to be the tastiest choice of them all based on the ratings.

The next resupply mission by Orbital ATK will have on board the Arabidopsis plant, a genetic model of the plant kingdom, making it a perfect sample for conducting studies in space. The plants were grown in the Veggie system, and Nasa plans to supply the ISS with an additional Veggie system to sit next to the current one during this year. The second Veggie system will facilitate side by side comparisons of plant growth, and will make astronauts like Whitson happy for having more space for plants in space.

The Advanced Plant Habitat will also make its way to the ISS, the largest space plant growth chamber by Nasa so far.