First flowers grown in space

From Quartz:

A brightly colored flower is the first to bloom in the International Space Station.

The zinnias were chosen by NASA not for their beauty, but to “help scientists understand how plants flower and grow in microgravity.” ISS astronauts made headlines last year after successfully growing lettuces on the ISS, but the zinnias proved to be a bit more difficult.

“The zinnia plant is very different from lettuce,” Trent Smith, the veggie project manager, notes in a NASA blog. “It is more sensitive to environmental parameters and light characteristics. It has a longer growth duration between 60 and 80 days. Thus, it is a more difficult plant to grow.”

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