Don Pettit Iss Space Potato photo stuns the internet: the ‘alien egg’ on the ISS is real—and it’s a spud
Don Pettit Iss Space Potato is the phrase racing across social media after NASA astronaut Donald Pettit shared a photo of a purple, egg-shaped object with tentacle-like growths floating inside the International Space Station. The post triggered an online frenzy on Friday as viewers tried to make sense of the strange image from orbit. Pettit later clarified the mystery: it was a potato he had been growing in his space garden during Expedition 72.
What viewers saw on the International Space Station
The image shows a small object suspended in the air, purple and oval like an egg, with multiple protrusions that read as “tentacles” at first glance. Social media users reacted with shock and jokes, with one replying to Pettit: “kill it with fire. ” Others compared it to pop-culture creatures, including a “mimic hatching out of an egg, ” a reference to Prey, and another commenter saying they genuinely thought it looked like an egg hatching.
But the object was not presented as anything supernatural by the astronaut himself. Pettit posted on X that it was a potato he had been growing, labeling it with a playful name: “Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on @Space_Station. ”
Don Pettit Iss Space Potato: Pettit explains the ‘tentacles’ and the Velcro
Pettit, identified as Donald Pettit, said he flew potatoes during Expedition 72 specifically for a personal “space garden” project he pursued in off-duty time. He described the pictured specimen as “an early purple potato, ” and noted it was “complete with a spot of Velcro hook to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium. ” The tentacle-like look, in his telling, comes from the potato’s growth rather than anything unknown on station.
Pettit also told users he drew inspiration from Andy Weir’s book and movie The Martian, which famously centers on growing potatoes as a survival strategy. In Pettit’s own explanation for why potatoes matter, he emphasized efficiency: “Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants based on edible nutrition to total plant mass (including roots). ” He added: “Potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space. So, I thought it was good to get started now. ”
Immediate reactions: awe, jokes, and a fast correction from orbit
The first wave of reaction was pure disbelief at the “alien-looking” shape and color. The second wave arrived after Pettit’s clarification, with the same commenters pivoting from fear to fascination at the reality of growing food in microgravity.
Pettit’s account makes the key point plain: the image is unusual, but it is not evidence of extraterrestrial life. It is a day-to-day item—food—being tested in an improvised growing setup on the ISS.
Quick context and what’s next
Pettit took the photo during Expedition 72 on the ISS, described as spanning from September 2024 to April 2025. Separately, Crew-12 launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early “this morning” and is set to dock at the ISS on Saturday, Feb. 14, for an eight-month stay.
For now, Don Pettit Iss Space Potato is the snapshot that turned a quirky off-duty experiment into a viral moment—and it is likely to keep drawing attention as public curiosity grows around how astronauts produce food during long missions. Pettit’s own framing points to the next development: continued hands-on experimentation with potatoes as a practical crop for future exploration, with more images and updates expected as crews continue living and working aboard the International Space Station.
