The tomato lost inside the International Space Station by astronaut Frank Rubio was found a year later.
Do you think things only get lost in your home? It can happen everywhere since a year ago NASA astronaut Frank Rubio lost a tomato from the variety he was growing on the ISS and even his colleagues jokingly accused him of eating it.
Experiments of various kinds are constantly being conducted on the ISS, among which is the cultivation of food in subzero conditions gravityand lack of natural light, soil, etc. in order to develop the best methods creationof fresh food for the astronauts who will make long journeys.
Red Robin cherry tomatoes were grown as part of the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS) program, which combines hydroponic and aeroponic techniques instead of soil. Rubio, remaining 371 days on the ISS, proceeded to harvest the first tomatoes in March, to be sent back to Earth and examined.
But Rubio lost a tomato after draining it in a plastic bag. He reports that he spent at least ten hours searching for the tomato, part of the Veg-05 experiment crop.
It was not possible to find the small object since the laboratory is full of objects from experiments and other materials while the rest of the station is also floating around with various kinds of things. Even the air ducts were checked to see if the tomato had penetrated there but to no avail. Between being serious and joking, the other astronauts "accused" him of simply eating it.
Months after Rubio's return to Earth, the crew members of "Mission 70" found two tomatoes (it looks like Rubio had two tomatoes stamped).
"They were found dehydrated and slightly melted." Unlike Earth, the ISS tomatoes, apart from some discoloration, have no apparent microbial or fungal growth and simply appear to have lost their moisture and look more like sundried tomatoes.
According to NASA "tomatoes found by the XROOTS experiment will not be returned to Earth for analysis, as they were discarded by the experiment."
But he released one video which definitively acquits Rubio of the charge of eating the tomato, clarifying that he was wrongly accused by his colleagues.
