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Watch the sheer joy of astronauts eating the first ever space-grown lettuce

Watch the sheer joy of astronauts eating the first ever space-grown lettuce

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We choose to do the lettuce things, not because they are leafy, but because they are chard

By Loren Grush

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Astronauts Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren, and Kimiya Yui all munched on red romaine lettuce this afternoon, except unlike your sad desk salad, this produce was grown on the International Space Station. It was the first time people have eaten food cultivated in space.

Growing crops will be a vital part of long-duration space missions — providing a sustainable source of food. That’s why NASA created a plant experiment, called Veg-01, which aims to test out the space station's Veggie facility, meant to grow plants. The first crop of produce for Veg-01 was planted in May 2014 and returned to Earth in October for safety testing. The lettuce eaten today was planted on July 8th.

Unlike your sad desk salad, this produce was grown on the ISS

Lindgren cut out half of the lettuce from the rooting "pillow," which contains the seeds and soil for the plants. He then had to clean the lettuce with citric-acid based sanitizing wipes. The astronauts added extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the lettuce before taking their first bites together. "That's awesome," remarked Lindgren, while Kelly noted it tasted like arugula.

Watch the entire dining experience in GIF form below:

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