The blooming zinnia flower on the International Space Station.

Future long-range journeys, like one to Mars, would require people to domesticate a few of their very own meals, so understanding how vegetation develop in area is crucial. That is why NASA began planting flower crops in area in 2015, when NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren activated the Veggie system and its rooting “pillows” containing zinnia seeds.

Today, NASA launched a photograph of the zinnia plant that thrived on the International Space Station.

Sharing the picture on social media platforms, the area company 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.”

Explaining the significance of the area backyard NASA wrote that “Our space garden isn’t just for show: learning how plants develop in orbit will help us understand how to grow crops off the Earth, providing a valuable source of fresh food on long-term missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”

NASA astronauts have additionally grown lettuce, tomatoes, and chile peppers on the ISS, amongst different vegetables-with loads extra vegetation to come back.

According to NASA, the difficult technique of rising the zinnias offered an distinctive alternative for scientists again on Earth to raised perceive how vegetation develop in microgravity and for astronauts to practise doing what they will be tasked with on a deep area mission: autonomous gardening.

Many science aficionados have been enthused by the {photograph}, they usually responded in nice numbers within the remark part.

“Two special things that come together are flowers and space. Thank you, NASA,” commented a consumer.

“Unbelievable and beautiful,” wrote one other consumer.