One of the universe’s intriguing mysteries has been resolved— the disappearance of the first tomato grown in space. The revelation came from the seven astronauts currently stationed at the International Space Station, who announced the discovery of the elusive fruit on the 25th anniversary of the orbiter.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli shared the news, stating, “Well, we might have found something that someone had been looking for for quite a while.” The tomato, a red robin variety, holds significance as it was the first to be harvested and grown in space. This milestone was achieved in March by American astronaut Frank Rubio, who holds the record for the longest spaceflight at 370 days.
The tomato’s cultivation was part of a NASA experiment aimed at growing produce in space for longer-term missions in the future. Rubio expressed pride in the accomplishment, right up until the moment he lost track of the precious fresh produce—a valuable commodity in the unique environment of space.
“I harvested, I think, what was the first tomato in space, and I put it in a little bag,” Rubio recalled in a NASA interview in October. He said he ended up taking the tomato out of the safety of the Ziploc bag to show some students the prized produce, but seemed to misplace it afterwards. the first tomato
Astronaut Frank Rubio shared his experience of losing the first tomato grown in space, stating, “I was pretty confident that I Velcroed it where I was supposed to Velcro it, and then I came back and it was gone.” Despite spending approximately 18 to 20 hours in an unsuccessful search for the missing tomato, Rubio speculated that it might have “desiccated to the point where you couldn’t tell what it was” and could have been accidentally discarded.
The weightless environment in space poses challenges, as any unsecured or untethered object is prone to floating away. Given the size of the International Space Station (ISS), equivalent to a six-bedroom house, there are numerous potential hiding spots for a solitary tomato in the microgravity conditions of space.