Have you ever craved a salad, I mean really craved a salad because you've been eating a lot of freeze-dried meat and beans?
Astronauts who spend months on end in space sure do miss their greens. That's why NASA is embarking on a program to get astronauts growing their own food. First stop is the International Space Station and a vegetable production system called Veg-01, or "Veggie."
We've brought you stories before about cooking food in space and why astronauts love hot sauce, but as for growing food, NASA is just in the seedling stage with Veggie.
Veggie is a 1.5-foot-long capsule that glows like an otherworldly purple jellyfish. Inside are six Outredgeous lettuce plants (a red Romaine variety), some growing better than others, NASA says. They are scheduled for harvest Tuesday.
The eerie purple glow comes from grow lights similar to those used in greenhouses on Earth. Veggie has 132 red, 32 green and 32 blue LED lights, says Gioia Massa, the scientist in charge, to get the plants going in the right direction.