麻豆约拍

Astronauts on the International Space Station enjoy their first bite of a lettuce cultivated in orbit. NASA hails it as "one small bite for a man, one giant leaf for mankind".

The crew harvested the red romaine lettuce from a special plant-growing box called "Veg One". The so-called Veggie system was developed by the company Orbital Technologies Corp.

Business Development Manager Paul Zamprelli says he first started working on it around eleven or twelve years ago.

"What we have found out is that we can grow plants this way, 24 or 25 times faster than the best garden in the US," he said.

"If we're going to truly colonise on the Moon and Mars then we're going to have to do this. The world started with plants, well that's how we have to start if we start migrating into other areas," he added.

This clip is originally from Phil Williams on Monday 11 August 2015.