NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has posted a close-up of an orange zinnia flower, the first ever grown in space. The space station also has its own plant growth facility where the astronauts grow plants of their own and the zinnias were chosen to grow in space to help the astronauts better understand growth in the micro gravity.
The flower is being nurtured in the VEG-01 or Veggie module of the space station, which is a part of an experiment in raising edible and ornamental plants in space. The astronauts planted the zinnias late last year and the flowers started blooming just after 2 weeks, they witnessed some of the symptoms indicating excess internal pressure, stress and their roots being flooded; Kelly then began cutting the mold and also experimented with the crops, making modifications to keep them alive while 2 of the flowers that blossomed earlier died due to excess pressure.
The Veggie chamber has also been used to grow batches of red romaine lettuce while these are the first flowers grown in space.
By: Archa Dave
