Happy Newyear 2017...

Jan 16: 2016:  First ever flower grown in space - a zinnia aboard the International Space Station using NASA Veggie system.

"First ever flower grown in space makes its debut!" With that declaration, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly revealed to the world the bright orange zinnias that had blossomed on board the International Space Station on Jan. 16.

What was the first vegetable to be grown in space?
In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies
Can a plant survive in space?
The team demonstrated that patterns previously associated with plant growth on Earth can occur in outer space as well. For example, the root tips still exhibited "skewing," or growing at an angle, and "waving," or regularly changing growth direction - just as they do in soil on Earth but without gravity to guide them.
Do plants grow in space?
Plants in space are plants grown in outer space typically in weightless but in pressurized controlled environment in specific space gardens. In the context of human spaceflight, they can be used for food and/or refreshing the atmosphere. Plants can scrub carbon dioxide and return oxygen, as well as adjust humidity.
Which was the first flower on earth?
The orange zinnia - a plant related to the sunflower - is from a small garden on the ISS in the VEG-01 module - known as "Veggie" - an experiment focused on growing plants in space. The plant in the picture is the first of the zinnia's to successfully flower
FIRST EVER FLOWER GROWN IN SPACE

"First ever flower grown in space makes its debut!" With that declaration, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly revealed to the world the bright orange zinnias that had blossomed on board the International Space Station on Jan. 16. "Yes, there are other life forms in space!" he exclaimed on Twitter from 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth. He even coined a hashtag: #spaceflower. .Kelly, the space station's commander, had good reason to crow. Just a few weeks earlier, the zinnias, which are part of the NASA plant growth experiment 'Veggie,' had come close to dying due to a break out of mold. If it was not for a revised care plan by NASA botanists on the ground - and Kelly's own "green thumb" on orbit - there may not have been any flowers to tweet about.

But in conveying his excitement, Kelly made a mistake. His newly-bloomed zinnias were not the first flowers grown in space.
Rooting through history
Four years ago, astronaut Don Pettit took it upon himself to grow a few different types of plants on board the station in what NASA labeled as a "personal biology experiment." Lacking the sophisticated growth chamber that would later launch as part of the Veggie study, Pettit used plastic bags as his pots. In addition to growing zucchini and broccoli sprouts, Pettit also successfully cultivated a sunflower to blossom - and beyond. Pettit's sunflower, with its bright yellow petals (before they wilted), was the first flower grown aboard the International Space Station. It was not however, the first flower grown in space.

Prior to the space station, NASA's space shuttle missions were just too short to grow flowers from seeds, but in the 1990s, cosmonauts grew dwarf wheat stalks through their full lifecycle - including flowering - on Russia's space station Mir. Before that, Soviet cosmonauts attempted to use a small greenhouse to cultivate orchids on the Salyut 6 station, but only those plants that were already budding when they were delivered to the outpost ever did bloom. Surprisingly enough, the Guinness Book of World Recordsincludes an entry for the "first species of plant to flower in space." "In 1982, the then Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station crew grew some Arabidopsis on board," the record reads. "During their 40-day lifecycle, they became the first plants to flower and produce seeds in the zero gravity of space."
By then, Kelly will be long back home on the Earth. He and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are set to complete a nearly yearlong stay on the station in March. As such, the zinnia flowers and previous lettuce offered more than sustenance for the stomach, but satisfaction for the mind. "#SpaceFlower out in the sun for the first time!" exclaimed Kelly on Twitter. The photo attached to his tweet displayed the orange flower floating in front of a window with a view of the blue Earth below.