Gardener gets ready to go home in the space zucchini's diary in Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit's latest blog entry. http://go.usa.gov/vz5

June 17-26 - Diary of a Space Zucchini

June 17
Excitement is in the air. Gardener said we will soon be returning to Earth. Our part of the mission is nearly complete and the new crew will take over for us. I am a bit worried about Broccoli, Sunflower, and me. If Gardener leaves, who will take care of us? And what about little Zuc? He is now a big sprout and ready to branch out on his own. Gardener talked about pressing us. I am not sure what that means; this does not sound good.

June 21
Gardener and crew wore their spacesuits today. This is something Broccoli, Sunflower, little Zuc and I do not have. They spent time in the part of the spaceship that breaks off and falls back to Earth. It is very cramped inside. It must be their version of a seed pod.

June 24
Sunflower is going to seed! His blossom is wilted-brown and has a few lopsided packed seeds. This is not quite normal, but then, we are living on the frontier and things are different here. They are not ready now; I wonder if they will be by the time Gardener is with his seed pod?

June 26
Gardener has this big book. He called it an atlas, a map of Earth. It is normally kept by the big window but now it is stuck to the wall right next to Broccoli, Sunflower, little Zuc, and I. He also transplanted us into new bags. This time the bags are very small, just enough to contain our root ball and a splash of water. He told us that he will soon be leaving and that we will return later in the belly of a Dragon.

Don's blog also appears at airspacemag.com