UPI – Crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have confirmed that astronaut Frank Rubio has been exonerated from accusations of consuming one of the initial tomatoes cultivated in space.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli announced in a live-streamed event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the station that the remnants of the small tomato were discovered eight months after being inadvertently misplaced by Rubio.
“Our good friend Frank Rubio, who headed home (already), has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato,” Moghbeli said.
Rubio, who returned to Earth in September, had been the target of joking accusations for months that he had eaten the space-grown fruit.
“I spent so many hours looking for that thing,” Rubio said during a September ISS live stream. “I’m sure the desiccated tomato will show up at some point and vindicate me, years in the future.”
The astronauts did not reveal where the tomato was found or what its condition was, but Rubio had earlier predicted it would be in a state of advanced decay due to the humidity aboard the station.
