While the news here is that the astronauts got to eat the fruits of their labor, they also packaged up and froze half of the romaine, ready to send back to Earth for microbial analysis. And today, the ground control team will harvest their own romaine leaves—the plants are one day behind their space compatriots—and then wait for the space lettuce to get back to Earth so they can compare their biochemical stats. Analyzing microbial activity, mineral presence, and antioxidant levels will help them know whether the space salad is as nutritious as the same stuff grown on Earth.