Veg-03 Initiation

iss049e046023 (10/25/2016) --- NASA astronauts Shane and Kate Rubins are photographed during VEG-03 initiation in the Node 2 module. Organisms grow differently in space, from single-celled bacteria to plants and humans. But future long-duration space missions will require crew members to grow their own food, so understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important step toward that goal. Veg-03 uses the Veggie plant growth facility to cultivate a type of cabbage, which is harvested in orbit with samples returned to Earth for testing.