Last Friday, social media exploded with excitement over a post by NASA astronaut Donald Pettit. A photograph taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shows a strange, egg-shaped purple object with eerie “tentacles” protruding from it in all directions.
The users’ reaction was immediate and emotional. In the comments, people compared the object to a “mimic” from science-fiction thrillers, advised the astronaut to “burn it with fire” immediately, or joked about the start of an alien invasion right inside the station’s living module.
Revealing the mystery of the object
Although the object in the photo truly resembles an alien creature, the explanation turned out to be much more mundane. Astronaut Donald Pettit, known for his sense of humor, revealed the truth: the mysterious “monster” turned out to be an ordinary purple potato that he had grown in his space garden.
Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on @Space_Station!
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) March 20, 2026
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
Pettit named his creation “Spudnik-1” (a play on words combining ‘spud’ – potato and “Sputnik”). The photo was taken during the 72nd expedition to the ISS, which lasted from September 2024 to April 2025. In his free time, the astronaut took up gardening, creating a makeshift terrarium for the plant equipped with a grow light.
Techniques for a “Martian” garden
According to Pettit, those very “tentacles” that scared the internet are just ordinary pieces of Velcro. He used them to secure the potato in the terrarium so it wouldn’t float around the cabin in microgravity. The astronaut was inspired to conduct this experiment by the book and movie The Martian.
“Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants in terms of the ratio of edible portion to total weight. They are sure to play a role in future space exploration, so I decided to start testing them now,” Pettit explained.
The scientific significance of space horticulture
Growing plants in orbit isn’t just a fun thing for the crew to do. For NASA, it’s a critically important area of research. Scientists are studying how microgravity affects root system growth and fruit development. In addition, fresh foods on the menu are a powerful source of psychological support and vitamins during long missions.
Pettit’s purple potatoes represent another step toward the development of self-sustaining life support systems that will one day enable people to survive on the Moon or Mars by growing their own food.
We previously reported on how astronauts prepared the tastiest space fast food.
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