Antarctic greenhouse celebrates their first harvest of lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers

A greenhouse in Antarctic just celebrated its first harvest.

EDEN-ISS, an experimental Antarctic greenhouse, is a German Aerospace Center project.

Plants like lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers grow inside this Antarctic greenhouse.

There's no soil needed in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse.

The Antarctic greenhouse serves as a sort of test run for missions to the Moon and Mars.

German Aerospace Center engineer Paul Zabel cares for the crops between three and four hours every day.

Produce harvested from this Antarctic greenhouse will feed the wintering crew of a nearby research station.

EDEN-ISS is located near Alfred Wegener Institute's Neumayer-Station III.

Fresh, local <a href="https://inhabitat.com/tag/produce/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">produce</a> might have seemed like an impossibility in <a href="https://inhabitat.com/tag/antarctica/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Antarctica</a> — until now. The experimental greenhouse <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.dlr.de/dlr/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-11008">EDEN-ISS</a> at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awi.de/">Alfred Wegener Institute</a>'s <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awi.de/expedition/stationen/neumayer-station-iii.html">Neumayer-Station III</a> recently harvested their first crops: 18 cucumbers, 70 radishes, and nearly eight pounds of lettuce. The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.dlr.de/dlr//en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10002/">German Aerospace Center</a> (DLR) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.dlr.de/dlr/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10081/151_read-26679/#/gallery/30077">described</a> this achievement as the "first harvested Antarctic salad."