As a flower blooms on International Space Station, Nasa sees 'food for astronauts'

As the deep space missions will be very long, with the scientists intending to set foot on Mars, experts and astronauts are trying to include a variety of food and endeavouring to cultivate plants in space.

It is crucial for them to comprehend how space agriculture works. It was a step taken by the US space agency Nasa toward cultivating flower crops in space back in 2015 when its astronaut Kjell Lindgren activated the Veggie system and its rooting "pillows" containing zinnia seeds.

Nasa released an image of a zinnia plant Tuesday on its official Instagram handle that grew on the International Space Station (ISS).

While posting the picture of the flower, the US space agency wrote: "This zinnia was grown in orbit as part of the veggie facility aboard the International Space Station. Scientists have been studying plants in space since the 1970s, but this particular experiment was started on the ISS in 2015 by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren."

Nasa also wrote, while underlining the importance of gardens in space: "Our space garden isn't just for show: learning how plants develop in orbit will help us understand how to grow crops other than the Earth, providing a valuable source of fresh food on long-term missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond."

Astronauts with Nasa have already grown tomatoes, lettuce and other vegetables on ISS as they are eyeing further cultivation in the space outpost.

According to a post by Nasa in 2017, the challenging process of growing the zinnias provided an exceptional opportunity for scientists back on Earth to better understand how plants grow in microgravity and for astronauts to practise doing what they'll be tasked with in a deep space mission: autonomous gardening.

After the post, people became amazed and large people expressed how they felt in the comments.