MANILA, Philippines - A beautiful flower grown in space has fully bloomed and NASA has given us the first look.
Over the weekend, NASA’s Scott Kelly posted on his social media account a photo of a zinnia, which was grown in the International Space Station (ISS).
#SpaceFlower out in the sun for the first time! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/Cghu9XGv1J
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) January 17, 2016
The bright orange zinnia grows easily on earth. But with the space's zero gravity, growing one outside Earth is difficult. Before sharing a photo of the fully bloomed flower today, Kelly previously mentioned that past attempts to grow one in space resulted to failure because of the high humidity.
Our plants aren't looking too good. Would be a problem on Mars. I'm going to have to channel my inner Mark Watney. pic.twitter.com/m30bwCKA3w
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) December 27, 2015 The astronauts in ISS started growing vegetables in space in 2014. In fact, they have successfully grown and eaten red romaine lettuce last year.
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The mission to produce crops in space is aimed to help the astronauts on their trip to Mars, NASA says.