NASA Astronauts at ISS will eat space-grown veggies for the first time

The International Space Station astronauts are going to make history once again. For the first time ever in the existence of the International Space Station, the astronauts are going to eat the food that they themselves have grown while inside the space station. The historic event on the ISS will take place today, i-e on August 10, 2015.
United States astronaut, Scott Kelly, tweeted about the menu on Monday.
The astronauts will clean the leafy greens with citric acid-based, food safe sanitizing wipes before consuming them.

NASA says it’s more than just a gardening experiment, it’s also a critical step on the path to living on Mars.

The vegetables on the International Space Station (ISS) were grown in the greenhouse named Lada. The greenhouse has been part of the ISS since 2002. The mission was to study how plant growth is impacted in the condition of microgravity.
But, until now, astronauts aboard the space station haven't been eating their science experiments.

Not all of the vegetables will be consumed by the astronauts orbiting the Earth. The plan is that only half of the vegetables will be consumed while the rest will be sent from the International Space Station to Earth and run them through a series of experiments. The experiments will be important in order to determine how vegetables vary when grown on Earth compared to grown in space. Some plants that were grown in 2014 had been sent back to NASA to ensure that they are safe for human consumption.
The lettuce seeds were sent up from Cape Canaveral and grown inside the vegetable production system known as “Veggie” aboard the ISS.

Growing the vegetables on space was not as easy as it is on Earth. Astronaut Scott Kelly planted lettuce in early July and harvested the crop a month later. In order to get the plants to grow they are bombarded with red and blue LED light and they use what they call a pre-made seed “pillow.”
The collapsible and expandable Veggie unit features a flat panel light bank that includes red, blue and green LEDs for plant growth and crew observation. Using LED lights to grow plants was an idea that originated with NASA as far back as the late 1990s
The purple/pinkish hue surrounding the plants in Veggie is the result of a combination of the red and blue lights, which by design emit more light than the green LEDs. Green LEDS were added so the plants look like edible food rather than weird purple plant

Fresh foods, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are a good source of antioxidants. Having fresh food like these available in space could have a positive impact on people's moods and also could provide some protection against radiation in space
It also could be used by astronauts for recreational gardening activities during deep space mission
The space vegetable project is important to the growth and future of NASA missions. According to NASA, pre-packaged food only lasts for a maximum of three years. If food can be grown while on the mission then the astronauts can become self-sufficient in regards to their food. This would allow manned missions to go out farther into space. NASA also thinks that it is a nice way for the astronauts to always have part of the Earth with them, no matter where they are in the cosmos.
The system also may have implications for improving growth and biomass production on Earth, thus benefiting the average citizen.Many of the lessons NASA is learning with Veggie could be applied in urban plant factories and other agriculture settings where light is provided by electrical light and water conservation is practiced.