Overview
- Pettit’s X post, published Wednesday, showed an egg‑shaped early purple potato with stringy roots floating in microgravity.
- He said the roots spread in all directions without gravity and that plants he grows in orbit develop much more slowly than on Earth.
- He grew the tuber off duty in an improvised grow‑light box and held it in place with a small patch of hook Velcro.
- Pettit nicknamed the potato “Spudnik‑1” and said spuds offer efficient nutrition, a case for growing staple crops on future deep‑space voyages.
- NASA points to years of ISS plant work, including lettuce, kale, mustard greens, zinnias, and dwarf tomatoes, with more crops like tomatoes and peppers planned to support crews and study microgravity biology.