News

Glass Barn to host Veggies in Space live chat

For the first time in history astronauts grew, harvested, and ate food grown in space this week through NASA’s Vegetable Production System Program or VEGGIE.

VEGGIE is a plant growth facility on the International Space Station and gives researchers the opportunity to develop the capabilities of growing fresh produce and other plants in space.

According to NASA – Veggie is a low-cost plant growth chamber that uses a light bank that has red, blue, and green LED’s for plant growth and is capable of producing salad-type crops to supply crews with a continuous source of appetizing, nutritious, and safe fresh food while serving aboard the space station.  VEGGIE also has a nutrient delivery system and uses the cabin’s environment for temperature control and as a source of carbon dioxide to promote growth.

On August 18, the Indiana Soybean Alliance is hosting a live video link with a NASA program manager at the Kennedy Space Center to talk about the Vegetable Production System Program in the weGROW Theater at the Glass Barn.  NASA is encouraging questions from the public.  Those can be submitted via Twitter by use the hashtag #askDLN or via email ([email protected]).

The program runs from 11:30 until 12:30pm on Tuesday, August 18.

Here’s a video from NASA on the harvest and first bites of the “Outredgous” red romaine lettuce grown in space.