New Year’s Celebrations Aboard the TIangong Space Station Include Vegetables Grown in Orbit

Amaze Lab

Astronauts orbiting our planet eat lots of different foods, mostly consumed from tubes. However, recently this was the meal aboard China’s Tiangong space station: real-life vegetables they grew themselves in space.

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00:00 When you were a kid you no doubt tried something like this, or what most consider a quintessential

00:08 astronaut food, freeze dried ice cream.

00:11 In reality, astronauts orbiting our planet eat very different things, mostly consumed

00:15 from tubes.

00:16 But recently, this was the meal aboard China's Tiangong space station.

00:20 Real life vegetables they grew themselves in space.

00:23 The process isn't easy, involving the spacefarers pollinating the plants by hand, since there

00:28 aren't any bees in space, right now they're growing cherry tomatoes and some leafy greens.

00:32 But that's not all they're eating.

00:34 New Year's Day included a veritable feast prepared by their colleagues down in mission

00:38 control.

00:39 This marks the end of the second year of China's space station operations, with their space

00:43 program having several important missions related to it.

00:46 They're currently conducting experiments related to physics in combustion, and material

00:50 sciences in microgravity.

00:52 And of course they're continuing their life sciences experimentation, including that related

00:56 to the human body, and of course, growing food in space.

01:00 -END-

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