China's Shenzhou-23 crew members aboard the country's space station introduced the space vegetable garden during a "Tiangong Class" space lecture for students in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SAR) on Wednesday.
The three astronauts—Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying—served as space teachers. More than 200 primary and secondary school students from Hong Kong and Macao attended the class at Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College in Hong Kong, which is the alma mater of Lai Ka-ying, Hong Kong's first payload specialist. Many more students across the two regions watched the class via livestream.
During the lecture, Lai pointed to the compact garden setup before explaining how the cultivation system is structured.
"Everyone, take a look: this is the space vegetable garden, one of the most eye-catching features in the space station. Here we have sweet potatoes, mint, different varieties of lettuce, and kale. Up here on the space station, there's no soil, no natural rainfall, no sunlight. Plants depend entirely on this space plant cultivation device to survive. The space garden is made up of cultivation cups, water supply units, light units, ventilation units, and other components that together provide a good growing environment for the plants," Lai told the students.
"We take great care of them and witness the plants' growth, step by step, from sprouting to maturity. Seeing those green leaves is especially soothing. Once the vegetables are ready, we use a rotational harvesting method that preserves the roots, so a single lettuce plant can keep producing, ensuring we always have fresh vegetables to eat," she added.
Later, Lai invited commander Zhu Yangzhu to try some freshly picked lettuce.
The event featured scientific explanations, demonstrations conducted aboard the space station and questions from students, followed by a live dialogue between the astronauts and students in Hong Kong and Macao.
Chinese astronauts first successfully grew lettuce aboard the Shenzhou-11 mission in November 2016, using a miniature space greenhouse. Since then, astronauts have completed the full life-cycle cultivation of rice and wheat, mastering plant-growing techniques in microgravity.
Shenzhou-23 crew livestream space vegetable garden to HK, Macao students
