He gave the plants sun by shuttling them between space station windows, and grew them in a plastic bag, feeding them a liquid made from composted food scraps. The crew never tried eating the plants; Pettit jokes it would have felt like cannibalism.

“We considered them crew members,” he says. “It was delightful to have those plants around, to feel the little hairs on a leaf tickle your nose, to see that sunflower in full bloom. It changed our whole experience.”

Massa thinks VEGGIE could promise similar psychic gains to space station astronauts. For one thing, there’s the splash of color provided by the sanguine plants, chromatic relief in a sea of whites and beiges. The program’s second phase will include flowering zinnias, for even more visual vibrancy.

Not to mention, caring for plants can conjure up unknowable associative memories. A childhood harvest, perhaps, or a forgotten summer stroll through the garden. “These are the intangibles,” says Massa. “Will the astronaut nurture each plant like a pet? Will he stumble on a forgotten memory?”

The first batch of space-ready lettuce is something of a tease for the NASA crew – once harvested, it will be frozen and stored away for testing back on Earth. No one is allowed to eat anything before the plants are thoroughly vetted for cosmic microbes.

Where's the Beef in Space? In 1982, the Kids’ Whole Future Catalog made some surprisingly accurate speculation on the future of space farming. In addition to growing plants hydroponically and composting waste, the book suggested astronauts may soon raise space rabbits as a meat source. Far-fetched? Maybe not. Researchers all over the world have spent years studying the most viable proteins for space missions. In choosing the right animal, the biggest concerns are size and waste creation; naturally, scientists in Japan and Mexico have studied edible space insects. Also in Japan, experiments on closed-loop life support systems have recently been performed on small goats. Neither bugs nor goats have yet been launched into space, but Russian crews have performed extensive experiments on one potential food source: the Japanese quail. Crews have sent quail eggs up for study since 1979, with the first ones actually hatching in 1990. Since then, Russian cosmonauts have nurtured baby quails from birth, hand-feeding them and studying their adaptive abilities. The downside? “The cosmonauts grew attached and had trouble killing them,” according to Dr. Gioia Massa of NASA.

These space germs are often fairly benign, akin to the natural bacteria that build up in any moist root bank. Russian crews are allowed to consume vegetables grown on their side of the space station, but microbe standards are strict and unwavering on U.S. space missions. Massa says NASA’s surgeons set these levels based simply on quantity, without regard for “good” or “bad” germs. After the first lettuce harvest is tested, she hopes for reevaluation of the microbial standards, with specific dispensations for agriculture.

But once that hurdle is cleared, Massa has high hopes for the program. Her team has been testing the system in NASA labs since 2011, working out the bugs and evaluating the technology. The growth chambers themselves, created by the Wisconsin company Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC), are lightweight and easily stored, with relatively simple watering and lighting systems. Each unit requires little space, but could easily be replicated on a large scale. And unlike its clunky, power-draining predecessors, the whole setup requires about as much energy as a desktop computer. “It’s really an ingenious little system,” she says.

As space travel becomes increasing a public-private partnership, NASA is not alone in testing out food programs. “We can’t afford to keep shipping water, oxygen and Kraft dinner to the moon indefinitely,” says Mike Dixon, one of the foremost researchers on grow-your-own-space-food. Dixon is a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, and his program is looking at the viability of longer-term crops, like soybeans. Other efforts are focusing on vertical farming design; some researchers are replicating Mars-like conditions on Earth, like the South Pole.

For Massa, this is the realization of a decades-old dream. As a teenager in Florida, she was both a member of her local Future Farmers of America chapter and – like many kids of the ’80s – a space superfan. Her career path was shaped early by a teacher of hers who attended a NASA educational program called “Energize the Green Machine,” speculating on the future of space farming.

Now, after devoting a life to getting here, Massa is on the brink of space farming’s launch.

She mulls over the implications. “Do I think this could hold the keys to our future?” she asks, then pauses. “Yes, I suppose I do.”

Diary of a Space Zucchini

Don Pettit’s Space Zucchini had two friends in space, Broccoli and Sunflower. They loved to pal around. As you can tell, the astronaut’s relationship to his budding garden was quite intimate. From the blog:

March 26: I have new leaves! I am no longer naked to the cosmos. They are not as big as before however they are just as green. Broccoli and Sunflower have leaves as well and are vibrant. We all have happy roots. This is a hard (sic) to explain to a non-plant, but I am feeling very zucchini now.

June 6: Last night we observed a little black spot on the Sun… Gardener and his crewmates observed the little black spot move across the Sun through a special filter. Sunflower, Broccoli, and I can look directly at the sun with no filter. We all were smiling.

June 9: Great news; I have a baby brother sprout! Gardener just showed me baby Zuc. He is strong and healthy and ready to move from the sprouter into his own aeroponic bag. While Broccoli and Sunflower are great companions, there is nothing quite like having a zucchini to zucchini conversation.

June 17: ‘Excitement is in the air. Gardener said we will soon be returning to Earth. Our part of the mission is nearly complete and the new crew will take over for us. I am a bit worried about Broccoli, Sunflower, and me. If Gardener leaves, who will take care of us? And what about little Zuc? He is now a big sprout and ready to branch out on his own.