Even though the members of the International Space Station (ISS) are floating thousands of miles above us, they're still doing things that require earth found on, well, Earth, and honing their green thumbs planting flowers. While vegetables have been grown in space before — most recently lettuce — this marks the first time astronauts have attempted to try their hand at growing flora instead of fauna. 

To grow the flowers — specifically, zinnias, a type of daisy — in space, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren switched on Veggie, an optimized growing system developed by the space administration, and planting each with a pillow pack made out of Kevlar to help them root.

However, why haven't space explorers tried growing flowers before this? In the end, what is their utility, especially compared with sustenance-giving vegetative crops?

It turns out that flowers need a bit more of a sensitive touch when it comes to cropping them, according to Gioia Massa, NASA Kennedy Space Center payload scientist for Veggie. This, in turn, can help astronauts master the skill set for growing things in the future — like, in the instance of space colonization, larger crops.

"The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits," she concluded. "Plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario."

Via: Digital Trends