Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings onboard the Tiangong space station. This experiment may yield critical insights on how astronauts can cultivate staple food in orbit to support long-term missions.

Since the experiment began on July 29, the high straw rice variety seedlings have reached a length of 30 centimeters.

While there have been other rice experiments in space, the Tiangong experiment is the first aiming to replicate the complete life cycle of the plant, beginning with a seed and ending with a mature plant producing new seeds.