The Life of the Space Zucchini (and Other Orbital Adventures)

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is a bit of a renaissance man — part-poet, part-scientist and all-around Mister Fix-it who likes to share what he’s doing aboard the International Space Station with people back home. His latest  creative project is “Diary of a Space Zucchini,” the story of a plant’s life in the weightlessness of space — from the plant’s point of view.

“I sprouted, thrust into this world without anyone consulting me.  I am not one of the beautiful,” Pettit, speaking on behalf of the zucchini, wrote in his blog in January.

“There was excited talk about my blossoms today,” came the next month’s report.  “They were all looking forward to seeing little zucchinis in space. I did not have the heart to tell them one small detail.  I make two kinds of flowers; male flowers with only stamens and female flowers that produce zucchinis. Being part of this all man-crew, it was fitting for me to make only male flowers.”

more images of Pettit’s (and the zucchini’s) journey in space here

Source: news.discovery.com

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