Mysterious Disappearing and Reappearing Tomato on International Space Station Solved
In a plot twist worthy of a space-based thriller, the disappearance and reappearance of a space-grown tomato on the International Space Station (ISS) has finally been resolved.
Astronaut Francisco “Frank” Rubio, who was accused of eating the tomato when it vanished over eight months ago, has been exonerated by fellow crew members after the tiny specimen was found during a live stream to celebrate the ISS’s 25th anniversary.
“Our good friend Frank Rubio has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato,” Nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said, reported by space.com.
The whereabouts of the 1-inch-wide red dwarf tomato were not specified, leaving its current condition a mystery. Nonetheless, its existence has brought relief to Rubio, who feared being labeled a tomato thief after the fruit disappeared during a harvesting operation in a microgravity agricultural experiment.
Rubio, an army lieutenant colonel who recently returned to Earth after spending a record 371 days in space, was part of the Veg-05 project which aimed to grow and harvest salad crops in space. The project also investigated the nutritional value and acceptability of supplementing the ISS food system with fresh produce.
Dr. Gioia Massa, life sciences project scientist at Florida’s Kennedy space center, emphasized the value of the project, stating, “We’ve learned a lot more about this crop and we’ll continue to learn so much. We’ll get as much science out of this as possible.”
The infamous Rubio tomato turned out to be one of only 12 red dwarves successfully germinated and grown to ripeness in space during the Veg-05 project, compared to over 100 in a parallel experiment conducted on Earth, according to Nasa.
The discovery of the missing tomato has brought an unexpected resolution to a mystery that has puzzled both Nasa and space enthusiasts, marking a surprising turn of events in the world of space agriculture.