If you chose wheat, soybeans, tomato and potatoes, they were good choices! Scientists currently think those crops, plus several more (rice, peanut, sweet potato, cabbage, chard, and lettuce) are the best choices for the first sustainable gardens in space. They chose them after thinking about nutrition, taste, and how many different ways they can be prepared! (You can't eat tobacco, radishes are rather boring, and avocados grow on trees - too big for your space station.)

Congratulations! Your space station is self-sufficient - or at least as self-sufficient as we can make it today! You may use your garden to grow mainly fresh vegetables, while storing dry goods like wheat grain, soybeans, and potatoes.

Someday, however, another space station or a Mars base may rely completely on hydroponic gardens for food. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will be testing hydroponic gardens to learn how to use them for long-term spaceflight.

You've accomplished your mission&emdash;it's time for your reward...