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NASA’s Veg-03 Seeds Planted in First Lady’s White House Garden

Space-age plant seeds prepared by research scientists at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida were planted in first lady Michelle Obama’s White House Kitchen Garden on April 5. The seeds are from the same lot of ‘Tokyo Bekana’ Chinese cabbage seeds for the Veg-03 plant experiment bound for the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft this month during its eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission.

The Chinese cabbage and some red romaine lettuce seeds were prepared inside a laboratory at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility and shipped to the White House about a month ago.

First Lady Michelle Obama plants Veg-03 seeds in White House Kitchen Garden on April 5.
First Lady Michelle Obama, holds up NASA Veggie stickers while posing with Brad Carpenter, NASA chief scientist, Space Life and Physical Sciences, left; NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, second left; NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, second right; and Gioia Massa, science team lead, Veggie project, right; after planting the same variety of lettuce that was grown on the International Space Station in the White House Kitchen Garden on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 in Washington, DC.
Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

The First Lady, NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, and astronaut Cady Coleman participated in the event. Brad Carpenter, chief scientist for space life and physical sciences at NASA and Gioia Massa, NASA Veg-03 science team lead at Kennedy, also helped plant the seedlings with the kids.

“As we advance further along our Journey to Mars and prepare to send astronauts on long-duration exploration missions, the ability to grow nutritious food in space holds tremendous promise,” Deputy Administrator Newman said. “The students I met at the White House are part of the Mars Generation and it was fantastic to talk to them and the First Lady about the work NASA is doing to make sure that the astronauts who land on Mars in the 2030s are able to grow fresh, nutritious food.”

Students from across the country took part. Students from Bancroft Elementary School, who participated in the ground breaking of the garden and the very first planting in 2009, joined the first lady and helped plant the cabbage seeds. Also participating, were students from the Harriett Tubman Elementary School, who along with Bancroft students, regularly help in the garden. They also planted some ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce seeds identical to those delivered to the space station for Veg-01 in 2014.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to see the first lady’s garden,” said Massa. “It is an honor, and I am so happy to be able to represent the amazing Veggie team at this event.”

First Lady Michelle Obama plants Veg-03 seeds in White House Kitchen Garden.
First Lady Michelle Obama plants the same variety of lettuce that was grown on the International Space Station in the White House Kitchen Garden with students that have their own school garden programs on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 in Washington, DC.
Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Veg-03 will continue NASA’s deep-space plant growth research to benefit the Earth and the agency’s journey to Mars. The plants will be grown in the Veggie plant growth system aboard the space station. The low-power, simple gardening system enables space plant biology and food production.

“I’m excited to have these seeds growing in the White House garden as we watch the same seeds grow in space” said Trent Smith, NASA Veggie project manager at Kennedy.

Just as the White House vegetable garden helps to promote healthy food choices on Earth, the ability to grow crop plants on the space station will provide astronauts with the option to supplement their diets with fresh, nutritious food. Also, future long-duration missions into the solar system, and eventually to Mars, will require a fresh food supply to supplement crew diets.

The White House vegetable garden was created on the South Lawn in 2009 by the first lady to start a conversation about health and wellbeing. Since its inception, the garden has contained about 55 varieties of vegetables, including arugula, lettuce, spinach, peppers, kale and berries. Now the garden also will contain Chinese cabbage and red romaine lettuce, provided by NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Exploration Research and Technology Program.