Chinese astronauts grow lettuce, tomatoes aboard Tiangong space station

China recently took a major step in ensuring food security in space by cultivating vegetables aboard its Tiangong Space Station. The veggies including lettuce, cherry tomatoes and green onions were grown by a three-membered crew which started the operation in June.

Led by Mission commander Jing Haipeng, the team including two other 'Taikonauts' - Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao - planted four batches of lettuce in June followed by the tomatoes and onions in August. The crew returned to Earth with the vegetables on Tuesday and showed off the produce to the state media.

China eyes large-scale cultivation in space

The vegetables were grown using the Environmental Control and Life Support System [ECLSS], Yang Renze, a researcher from China Astronaut Research and Training Center told state media CCTV, Space.com reported. "In the future, we will focus on rapid and large-scale cultivation," he said.

He also revealed that the plants grown in the vegetable cultivation apparatus can absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen and even purify water through the transpiration process.

Interestingly, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center has even build a replica of the Tiangong module where astronauts and Earth-based researchers grow plants in similar conditions to compare and analyse the results.

Gaining expertise in space farming would give immense advantage in long-term space journey as it would eliminate the need to carry extra cargo of edibles. The saved space could instead be used to make more room for passengers and even rocket fuel.

China, too, has ambition of colonising the Moon and it plans to land two Taikonauts on the lunar surface by 2030.

Apart from Tiangong, growing food aboard the International Space Station (ISS) which is jointly managed by the US, Japan, Canada and Russia, is also a common practice. Astronauts on ISS have grown a wide range of crops such a chili peppers, mustard and tomatoes in efforts to master space farming for the long run.