The zinnia, an edible flower from the daisy family, became the first flower to blossom on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly posted a photo of the orange flower on Twitter last Jan. 17 as proof of the great achievement.

The cultivation of edible plants is part of NASA's Veggie project, where they try to grow different plants aeroponically and under microgravity, per CNN. Plants in this condition grow faster because water and nutrients go directly to the roots and pesticides are not applied.

"While the plants haven't grown perfectly, I think we have gained a lot from this, and we are learning both more about plants and fluids and also how better to operate between ground and station. Regardless of final flowering outcome we will have gained a lot," NASA's Veggie project lead Gioia Massa said in an official statement released by NASA.

According to the statement, the zinnia showed some signs of stress during the early stages of its growth due to high humidity that resulted to leaf necrosis and mold formation. The affected leaves were trimmed and was put in a freezer to be sent back to Earth for studying while high-speed fans were installed to keep the plants dry.

"All these things are so rich in information, my head kind of spins to think about what to focus on. This is perfect. This is really getting us down the road for other crops," Veggie Project manager Trent Smith said.

The next crop planned to be grown inside the space station is the Chinese cabbage while another batch of red romaine lettuce is also scheduled. The zinnia is seen as a very crucial part of the experiment as its growing habits are similar to tomatoes, which would be planted in the station in the next two years.

According to NASA, the zinnia is not the first crop to be fully grown inside the space station as the same team was successful in producing some "Outredgous" variety of the red romaine lettuce on Aug. 10, 2015. Kelly and the rest of the astronauts were able to harvest and consume the lettuce after cleaning it with citric acid-based, food safe sanitary wipes.

However, the lettuce is not the first plant to successfully sprout from seeds as American astronaut Don Pettit was able to germinate broccoli, sunflower and zucchini seeds inside a zip-lock plastic bag, per the NASA Blog.