NASA astronaut's ‘alien egg' photo turns out to be space potato

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut recently sent shockwaves on the internet after sharing a bizarre photo from the International Space Station (ISS).

The photo appeared to look like an alien creature hatching from a purple egg.

However, the truth behind the image is far from mundane.

Petit later revealed that the shown object is actually a potato and the strange tentacles are sprouts protruding from it.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), Pettit wrote: “Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on Space Station.”

Explaining the image, he described that the “tentacles” are simply roots growing in microgravity, and the Velcro hook seen in the photo was used to anchor the potato in his improvised grow light terrarium.

He also stated that he got inspiration from Andy Weir’s novel and film The Martian to start experimenting with potato cultivation in space, noting that potatoes are highly efficient in terms of edible nutrition relative to plant mass.

Petit said: “Potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space.”

“So thought it was good to get started now,” he wrote.

NASA has been conducting research on plant growth in microgravity environments for quite some time now. NASA successfully cultivated lettuce, kale, and zinnia flowers in space to provide additional nutrition for the astronauts.