Call it Spud-nick.<\/p>\n
An image of a tentacled growth in space has caused an uproar online with freaked-out viewers imploring astronauts to \u201ckill it with fire.\u201d <\/p>\n
Viral photos showed the floating, purple egg-shaped object with tendrils exploding out of it like the poster for the 1979 sci-fi horror flick \u201cAlien.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thankfully, the real item isn\u2019t as insidious as it seems. In a viral X post<\/a>, NASA astronaut Don Pettit explained that the anomaly was an \u201corbiting\u201d potato, dubbed Spudnik-1, that he grew onboard the International Space Station as part of an ongoing interstellar horticulture hobby.<\/p>\n A closeup of the space potato floating in the ISS. instagram\/astro_pettit<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an early purple potato, complete with spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium,\u201d the scientist explained. \u201cI flew potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that spuds are some of the most inefficient plants when it comes to the ratio of edible nutrition to total plant mass (including roots). <\/p>\n \u201cI genuinely thought this was some kind of egg hatching,\u201d said one disturbed viewer. instagram\/astro_pettit<\/p>\n He noted that they were a plot point in his space survival novel\u201dThe Martian,\u201d the basis for the 2015 Matt Damon movie of the same name.<\/p>\n Archive picture of the International Space Station. ISS\/NASA \/ SWNS<\/p>\n Viewers were nonetheless freaked out by the image with one commenter writing,<\/a> \u201cbro I genuinely thought this was some kind of egg hatching.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomehow the Velcro makes it look alien. Time to bring back quarantines lol,\u201d said another.<\/a><\/p>\n NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, 70, is photographed in a mission control room at NASA\u2019s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center on Tuesday, June 17, 2025 in Houston. Houston Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n A third advised<\/a>, \u201ckill it with fire!!!\u201d<\/p>\n Others were curious about the agricultural aspects of growing potatoes in space. <\/p>\n \u201cHow did it compare to growing potatoes on earth?\u201d inquired one inquisitive mind<\/a>. \u201cDoes the potato know how to send the plant above the soil and the roots\/tuber down into the soil in microgravity?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe roots would grow in all directions absent gravity, and all plants I have ever grown in space have grown far slower than they would have on Earth,\u201d Pettit replied.<\/a> \u201cI have more pictures I will share later.\u201d<\/p>\n This is more than just some cosmic party trick. With\u00a0the pending Artemis moon mission<\/a> and SpaceX and other agencies<\/a>\u00a0eyeing expeditions to Mars in the future, sustaining astronauts on long-haul voyages becomes increasingly crucial.<\/p>\n