But Nasa and space jocks alike haven’t explained either the mysterious disappearance or reappearance of space-grown fruit

It might have remained one of the greatest mysteries of the universe, destined never to be solved until a freak recent discovery by the crew of the International Space Station (ISS).

The subject? A tomato grown from seed in microgravity by US astronaut Francisco “Frank” Rubio as part of an agricultural experiment.

Rubio was accused of having eaten the fruit when it inexplicably disappeared more than eight months ago. However, the tiny specimen, or at least its remnants, have now been found, according to members of the seven-strong crew during a live stream this week to celebrate the orbiting outpost’s 25th anniversary.

“Our good friend Frank Rubio has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato,” Nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said, reported by space.com.