Recovered: Tomato Lost in Space by Trailblazing Astronaut
The historic tomato misplaced by astronaut Frank Rubio, the first ever harvested in space, has now been recovered, absolving him of any blame according to his fellow crew members
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That's why astronaut Frank Rubio has become the central figure in a lighthearted mystery that has taken months to solve. Earlier this year, Rubio harvested one of the first tomatoes ever grown in space, but then admitted that he had misplaced it.
"I placed it in a small bag, and while one of my crewmates was conducting a (public) event with some schoolkids, I thought it would be interesting to show them, 'Hey guys, this is the first tomato ever harvested in space,'" Rubio recounted during a media event in October. "I was pretty sure I had Velcroed it in the right place... and then when I returned, it was nowhere to be found."
In the weightless environment of space, anything not secured to a surface is in danger of floating off into the vast, football field-sized orbiting laboratory and its complex passageways, where it could remain hidden for eternity.
Rubio said he probably spent eight to 20 hours of his own free time just searching for that tomato.
Astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio is captured inside the cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world," as the orbiting lab soared 263 miles above southeastern England on Oct. 1, 2022.
Astronaut Frank Rubio achieves the longest trip in space by a US astronaut.
"People are quick to assume things, that's just human nature," Rubio lamented. "Many people are probably thinking, 'He must have eaten the tomato.' I really wanted to find it, mainly to prove that I did not eat it."
But he never found it.
Rubio returned to Earth on September 27 with the precious produce still lost aboard the space station.
It remained lostuntil now.
During a Wednesday news conference, members of the seven-person crew remaining on the space station revealed they had finally located the tomato.
Rubio had "been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato," NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said. "But we can exonerate him."
Tomato on top of a historic mission
The astronauts did not reveal where the tomato was or specify what state the produce was in when found.
Rubio surmised in October that it had probably already shriveled into an unrecognizable rot.
"The humidity up theres 17%, and so it probably desiccated to the point where you couldnt tell what it was," Rubio said.
Case closed.
In September, Rubio's return to Earth marked a historic moment, as his stay on the space station set a record for the longest a US astronaut has ever spent in microgravity at over a year. Originally planning to spend six months aboard the International Space Station, Rubio's stay extended to 371 days due to a coolant leak discovered in his original ride, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, while it was docked to the orbiting outpost.
During his October interview, Rubio admitted to the difficulties he faced during the journey.
"I allowed myself a day to feel sad and sorry for myself, and then I made the conscious decision to have a positive attitude and do the best job possible," Rubio said when he learned his stay would be extended by another six months.
