LOW EARTH ORBIT — The first food grown and devoured in space was a humble leafy green – or, rather, red romaine. In early August, while some children stuck on Earth were devising ways to get out of finishing their vegetables, three International Space Station (ISS) astronauts picked, cleaned and chewed their way into history with enthusiasm.

“For them to grow food, they’re pretty excited,” said Trent Smith, project manager for NASA’s VEGGIE (Vegetable Production System) program. After all, the six astronauts live largely on small packets of food and drinks heated by hot-water injection or an oven, with fruit and other fresher food delivered by resupply ship only every couple of months, he said.

Smith and NASA colleague Rachel Power explained VEGGIE to a rotating group of adults and children in the Indiana Soybean Alliance Glass Barn in mid-August, via video conference at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis (as well as the exchange streaming live on NASA’s DLiNfo Channel online).

The federal space agency and Orbital Technologies Corp. of Madison, Wis., are the developers for VEGGIE, which Smith described as taking up about the size of a two-drawer home filing cabinet on the ISS. There were other parties involved in bringing the project to fruition – so to speak – as well.

On Earth, a farmer or gardener can get their hands on water, soil, fertilizer or seeds with relative ease; on the ISS, these must be specially cleaned and delivered, and may even need to be used differently. For example, the romaine seeds were embedded in a “pillow” with a root mat for delivery to the station and planted there in Turface – calcined clay used on sports fields that Smith said is about the consistency of kitty litter.

“Getting the air and the water right for the root in space is exceedingly challenging,” he explained, because in low or no gravity, water doesn’t fall but instead sticks to whatever it “likes.” A famous 2013 YouTube video shows astronaut Chris Hadfield wringing out a drenched cloth in mid-air only to have the water bubble around the rag and his fingers.

If this happens to a root too long, Smith said the plant will think it’s waterlogged. In addition to solving for water movement, VEGGIE has to take into account the elevated level of carbon dioxide available on the ISS (about 2,500 parts per million, Smith said) compared to Earth (about 350 ppm).

The calcined clay seems ideal for allowing a proper mix of what the roots need. And, VEGGIE is efficient, reclaiming a whopping 93 percent of the water introduced into the system and running on just 70 watts to power its fans, artificial light source and other electrical needs.

This year’s romaine crop is actually the second grown aboard the ISS; the first, in 2014, was packed and flown back to Earth for mineral and antioxidant analysis – and to see if it was safe to eat. Smith reported the space romaine is similar to its Earth cousin in nutrition and about as clean as what one can buy at the store.

In just 28 days, the romaine reached maturity and was robust and small, all desirable qualities for plants in a limited living space like the ISS.

It’s easily picked and cleaned and can be eaten alone or with minimal preparation. Other than a warming oven, “we don’t have any way to cook on the space station,” said Smith – or processing equipment to make edible something more familiar to row crop farmers, like soybeans.

Other plants being considered are dwarf tomatoes and peppers – and if the ISS does gain a more involved cook area, perhaps sweet potatoes. The next experiment in December or January should involve a type of Chinese cabbage, Tokyo Bekana. This is a step toward radishes, a rooted plant. With no gravity to pull down roots or provide necessary stress to toughen a plant stem, researchers are experimenting with levels of light and darkness to see if that works.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen” with something like radishes, Smith said. “It’s an honest-to-God experiment.”

For Smith, whose degree is in polymer chemistry, not botany or agriculture, this is all a learning curve, as it is for at least some of the astronauts tending the plants on the ISS. Besides providing them food, the work of nurturing a crop is a psychological connection to a planet they are away from for six months to a year – both will be necessary for the well-being of future space travelers, especially as NASA and private companies continue to work to get humans to Mars.

When NASA retired its space shuttle a few years ago, Smith said many people thought space research was done for. But this and other ISS work, as well as companion research in the ISS Environmental Simulator on Earth (which also has a VEGGIE “farm”), shows young people there are still careers in extraterrestrial exploration.

In fact, in late August he and others headed to Miami to speak with hundreds of teachers about a challenge for middle- and high-school children he hopes will encompass about 1,000 schools. The idea is to engage students as “citizen scientists” to find other crops that may fit into VEGGIE parameters.

With population expansion here on Earth and the move to more efficiently use resources at hand, Smith said vertical farming – especially in large cities, like Chicago, and crowded populations, as in Japan – is getting more press. VEGGIE research could yield data helpful to these urban farmers working with small, indoor pockets of Earth as well.

To read more details about VEGGIE online, visit http://1.usa.gov/1JC2MmP