The first tomato grown in space that disappeared eight months ago has now been found.
Space-Grown Tomato
The tomato was both the first space-grown and space-harvested one in history. Frank Rubio, an American astronaut, grew it in March. Rubio is also the record-holder for having the longest spaceflight, reaching up to 370 days.
The harvest of the red robin tomato came as part of an experiment by NASA to grow space produce for future longer-term space missions. According to Rubio, the moment itself was a proud one, until the food commodity got lost in space.
Rubio recalls harvesting the space-grown tomato and placing it inside a small bag. He noted that he took the tomato outside of the bag's safety in order to show it to some students. However, he ended up misplacing it afterwards.
He ended up spending 18 to 20 unsuccessful hours looking for the space-grown fruit. He then assumed that the fruit could have desiccated until its location could not be pointed out and that it may have been accidentally thrown away.
Because of space's weightless nature, any unsecured or untied object may likely float away. Moreover, in the six-bedroom-house-sized ISS, there are several spots where the rogue tomato could have been hidden.
Months into the fruit's disappearance, some suspected that the astronaut ate the tomato. This was something that Rubio denied.
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Space-Grown Fruit Found After 8 Months
Now, during the orbiter's 25th anniversary, seven astronauts at the ISS (International Space Station) revealed that the rogue fruit had been found.
Jasmin Moghbeli, a NASA astronaut, explains that for a long time, Rubio had been blamed for the tomato's consumption. Now, they are able to exonerate the astronaut.
The exact discovery location and condition of the dwarf tomato were not specified.
Veg-05
The tomato was specifically part of NASA's Veg-05, which is a tag of the agency to avoid its official name, which is the pick-and-eat salad-crop productivity, nutritional value, and acceptability to supplement the ISS foot system.
On top of assessing the effects and viability of spaceflight on the growth of fruit crops under varying conditions, the project also grants astronauts taste tests and surveys to see if plant interactions in spaceflight environments led to psychological lifts or impacted their mood.
The ISS itself has a vegetable production system of its own called the Veggie. For several astronauts, being able to work on it is one of the several perks that come with space travel.
The tomato of Rubio is one of the 12 red dwarves that were observed to have successful germination and ripe growth in space during the Veg-05 project.
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