Solar activity can be dangerous for astronauts in space. As Artemis II prepares to launch on April 1, NASA will monitor the Sun’s outbursts to help keep the Artemis crew safe from excess radiation.
There was an uproar on the internet on Friday when a NASA astronaut shared a strange picture of what looks like an alien on social media.
The photo showed an object floating in the air that appeared to be purple, egg-shaped, with tentacles coming out of it.
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When users saw the photo they were surprised. One user responded to the astronaut by saying “Kill it with fire.”
Astronaut Don Pettit shared a photo of a strange object growing on the International Space Station.
(Don Pettit/X/Fox Weather)
“It looks like a clone is hatching from an egg,” said another, referring to the movie “Prey.”
One user even jokingly commented, ‘Brother, I really thought this was some kind of egg cracking.’
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Although the picture is very strange, the object is not evidence of extraterrestrial life forms, but a normal everyday object.
Astronaut Donald Pettit, who took the photo, posted on Instagram that the object was a potato he was growing in his space garden.
Tentacles are seen emerging from an object moving over the International Space Station.
(Don Pettit/X/Fox Weather)
“Spudnik-1 is an orbiting potato on the @Space_Station,” astronaut Petit said on Twitter.
Astronaut Pettit took the photo midway through Expedition 72 aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which runs from September 2024 to April 2025.
Astronaut Pettit said, “I planted potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time.” “This is an early purple potato, complete with a spot of Velcro hook that holds it in place in my makeshift grow light terrarium.”
Crew-12 was successfully launched this morning from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 4-person team is set to dock at the International Space Station on Saturday, February 14 and will remain aboard the ISS for up to eight months.
Petit continued to tell users that he was inspired by Andy Weir’s book and film “The Martian” to start growing potatoes.
“The potato is one of the most efficient plants in terms of food nutrition for the total mass of the plant (including roots),” Pettit said. “Potatoes will also have a place in future space exploration. So, I thought it would be good to start now.”
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According to NASA, astronauts have been growing plants in space gardens for years to study plant growth in microgravity, as well as to add fresh food to the astronauts’ diets.
In recent years, NASA has successfully grown three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale and zinnia flowers in space.
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