June 8, 2011
We've always known that known cucumbers are out of this world, but now they will be, literally. Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa will begin a six-month stint on the International Space Station shortly and plans to study growing food in outer space.
His experiment will examine the effects of gravity on food harvesting, but the astronauts will sadly not be allowed to eat the cucumbers. Their diets are strictly controlled. Last year, on a similar mission, another Japanese astronaut made sushi and Russian astronaut Sergei Volkov will be growing tomatoes during this mission.
The news is likely good for the cucumber industry, which has been battling rumors of food contamination as part of the E. Coli outbreak in Europe.
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