Astronauts Eat Vegetables Grown on the International Space Station for the First Time Ever

First Posted: Aug 10, 2015 08:34 AM EDT

NASA astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have grown the first ever vegetables in space-and are about to eat them. The produce is the result of a new effort to grow food in space for potential, long-term space missions.

"This is the first step to kind of answers those questions of what will we grow on Mars and how will we do it?" said a NASA official in a press video. "For the first time to have astronauts eat what they grow in space? It's just so exciting to be part of that."

In this case the astronauts will be chowing down on lettuce. First, they will clean the greens with citric acid-based, food safe sanitizing wipes. Then, they'll eat half of the lettuce, and set aside the other half to be package and frozen on the station until it can be returned to Earth for scientific analysis.

The entire experiment is called the Veg-01, which is meant to study the in-orbit function and performance of the plant growth facility currently being used to grow the lettuce.

There is evidence that supports fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants," said Ray Wheeler, lead for the Advanced Life Support activities in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs Office at Kennedy, in a news release. "Having fresh food like these available in space could have a positive impact on people's moods and could provide some protection against radiation in space."

The new veggie-growing experiment could also be a way for astronauts to survive during long-term space missions. If astronauts traveling to Mars could farm their own food, then it could be a huge boon for them.

Want to find out more about the experiment for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube and NASA