It seems like space has been the topic of the moment of late, from British astronaut Tim Peake becoming the first Brit on the International Space Station to the revelation, back in September, that there is in fact water on Mars. 

The latest discovery to come to light is that astronauts have managed to make the first ever flowers bloom in space. This may seem like a small achievement; after all, we can all grow daffodils, but the breakthrough has all sorts of major implications for space exploration.

For one thing, it may allow us humans to sustain ourselves in space; currently astronauts rely on food brought up from Earth to meet their nutritional needs, but this could allow them to grow their own fruit and vegetables in space, perhaps even enough to sustain livestock as well on long space journeys in the distant future.

It wasn't a smooth process to grow the zinnias, however, and eventually to coax them into flowering. The project was initially overseen by Kjell Lindgren, another astronaut, under strict guidance by the experts at NASA. When he returned to Earth, their care was taken over by Scott Kelly, who tweeted some pictures of the plants looking pretty sorry for themselves on December 27th of last year.

The plants by then were growing mould and showed signs of excess humidity; the roots had also flooded. The care of the flowers was initially overseen by a team at mission control, who dictated very strict instructions. It was only after Scott requested permission to water the crops as he saw fit that they began to show signs of recovery, with only general guidance from NASA's Earth-based scientists.

The experiment will allow others to study the effects that gravity (or lack thereof) has on growing crops, and will help to refine the procedures necessary to grow edible flowering crops like tomatoes, courgettes and peas in a low gravity environment. It's likely to mean a big step up for astronauts' culinary ambitions, which thus far have been limited mostly to rehydrated meals and energy bars – not the tastiest of foodstuffs.

Mouldy leaves from the zinnias have been saved by the team on the International Space Station for study on their return to Earth – it's hoped that they might give away clues as to what went wrong initially and how to correct those mistakes on subsequent attempts. 

There's another more peripheral benefit that you might not have thought of to growing plants in space too: NASA scientists say that the process of growing and nurturing plants is extremely good for keeping up morale on the International Space Station, and perhaps eventually on much longer missions, when mental health could become a more serious concern. 

There are plenty of things to celebrate about Scott Kelly's flowering zinnias – perhaps they mark the first step on a road to manned missions to Mars and beyond.