NASA astronaut successfully grows veggies in space
NASA
Washington: NASA s Expedition 64 crew member Michael Hopkins has harvested two crops in space Amara mustard, and a previously grown crop, Extra Dwarf pak choi. They were grown for 64 days, the longest leafy greens have grown on station, the US space agency said.
The pak choi grew for so long that it began to flower as part of its reproduction cycle. Hopkins efforts in eclipsing the mark included using a small paintbrush to pollinate plant flowers. I wasn t all at surprised that he chose this route to make sure the plants were fully pollinated because he has always wanted to be very involved, Matt Romeyn, a space crop production project scientist and science lead on the four-plant experiments, said in a statement on Tuesday.