A year ago, the astronaut NASA Don Pettit returned from the International Space Station the day of his 70th birthdaybecoming the agency’s oldest active astronaut. He was part of the Expedition 72 to the International Space Station, which took place between September 2024 and April 2025. During the mission, the crew carried out various research, such as a study on the changes that can occur in the eyes while in space. But Pettit also had time to emulate Mark Watneythe astronaut ‘The Martian’ who survived on Mars by growing potatoes, doing the same with a purple potato that he took to the ISS and nicknamed Spudnika play on words between ‘spud’ (potato) and ‘Sputnik’, and which he showed a year later on his social networks.
‘Recognised by Andy Weir in his book and film ‘The Martian’, Potatoes will have a place in future space exploration. So I thought it was a good idea to start now!’ Pettit posted on X on March 20.
Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on @Space_Station!
I flew 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 spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium.
Potatoes are one… pic.twitter.com/MXsoV20vJ8
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) March 20, 2026
‘Potato in pot. Space Spud is growing with its lower half inside an old drink bag. More on Spudnik’s adventure soon!’ Pettit shared in another post on X on April 15, which included a photo of his achievement.
Potted potato: Space Spud is growing with its bottom half in an old drink bag. More to come on the adventure of Spudnik! pic.twitter.com/kcSsaMzdBM
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 15, 2026
To successfully grow potatoes, Pettit made a ‘improvised terrarium with grow light’as he said, and was able to fix the potato in its place within that assembly with velcro. Pettit’s strategy worked and you can see sprouts emerging from the potato.
But, as expected, potatoes in space They grow a little differently than they do here.on Earth. In the microgravity environment of the ISS, purple potato stems grew straight into the airPettit explained in a subsequent post on April 20.
Wrong way roots! In the weightlessness of orbit, roots generally head towards moisture but sometimes they get confused and grow “upwards”. Here are photos of my early purple potatoes, now potted in their hydroponic bag, turning into real Space Spuds. pic.twitter.com/HqUJv9jUc5
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 20, 2026
‘Roots in the wrong direction!’ said Pettit. ‘In the weightlessness of orbit, roots tend to head toward moisture, but sometimes they get confused and grow ‘upwards’‘he added.
‘Without gravity, the roots, the hairy tendrils near the opening, They would grow haphazardly to find soil or water, and were bagged to contain them.the closest thing we had to pots,’ Pettit explained in another comment on April 26 on Reddit. Even so, the experiment reconfirms that with the right conditions, in a suitable substrate, with water, light, nutrients, appropriate temperature and space to develop roots, Spudnik would have given rise to a complete potato plant.
‘As noted in ‘The Martian,’ they are excellent sources of nutrition and They will probably be useful in deep space horticulture in the future. Maybe one day potatoes will grow on Mars! Until then, we learn what we can in Earth orbit,’ Pettit continued.
It is not the first time that potato cultivation has been experimented with in space. In 1970, on a Soviet mission Soyuzthree potato tubers traveled for 18 days in moist moss and managed to sprout and form small roots.
In 1995, during a mission of the NASA space shuttlethe objective was more scientific. Potato cuttings were grown in a controlled system to study whether tubers could form in microgravity. Spudnik is not the first potato to sprout in space, but it is a unique case of a whole potato sprouted almost by hand on the International Space Station.