Question: You are a medical doctor, right? Do you think that these experiments about how plant life is affected in space could lead to new medical discoveries?

Beth Healey answered on 13 Oct 2015:

There is lot’s of research which is happening at the ISS and here in Concordia which is medically based (and useful for everyone’s health not just astronauts!).

It’s impossible to predict what exciting discoveries experiments like Rocket Science may lead to (as otherwise they wouldn’t be discoveries I guess :)! ). However what is without doubt is that we are able to find that we can successfully grow plants in space then it will mean that Astronauts will benefit from better nutrition during space missions. Here at Concordia we also don’t have fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter period and even after just 9 months I am really starting to feel the effects of this. Its also good for morale to have good food which is an aspect of long duration missions which shouldn’t be underestimated.