Daily Diversion: NASA brings salad to space

Food in space has come a long way from freeze-dried ice cream and Tang. As part of NASA's Vegetable Production System (Veggie) project — whose goal is to bring salad to space — astronauts onboard the International Space Station recently ate fresh lettuce, grown in space, NPR reports.

Crewmembers harvested and consumed the lettuce, which was grown with a temporary light source and constant fans to circulate air in a zero-gravity zone. According to NPR, the plants grew in a pillow of aerated clay, to which astronauts added water. Though this isn’t the first time lettuce has grown in space, it is the first time that space-grown lettuce has been eaten, as last year’s crop was sent back to NASA for analysis.

Astronauts ate the leafy greens on Monday with a balsamic dressing. The program plans to grow more lettuce, cherry tomatoes and potatoes in the future.