Call it Spud-nick. An image of a tentacled growth in space has caused an uproar online with freaked-out viewers imploring astronauts to “kill it with fire.” Viral photos showed the floating, purple egg-shaped object with tendrils exploding out of it like the poster for the 1979 sci-fi horror flick “Alien.

The eerie purple orb freaking out social media is actually Spudnik-1, a homegrown ISS potato pointing to NASA's plans for food on Moon and Mars trips.

The internet did a double-take after NASA Astronaut Don Pettit shared a photo from the International Space Station that looked, at first glance, like something from a sci-fi movie. The purple, alien-looking object appeared to have a tentaclelike sprout on one side and a strange patch on the other,

The Cosmic Report brings you this week’s weirdest space moments, from a meteorite smashing through a Houston roof to a potato causing UFO panic on the ISS, plus NASA’s $4 billion telescope surviving a literal sonic assault.

A 'space potato' grown aboard the ISS went viral for its alien look, but NASA astronaut Don Pettit says it highlights future food needs in space.

An image of a strange, tentacled object has been circulating online, with some comparing it to something out of a sci-fi movie. But what is it really? The viral post, shared on X by NASA astronaut Don Pettit,

A strange, tentacled object that went viral online was revealed to be a space-grown purple potato. Astronaut Don Pettit cultivated the unusual specimen during a microgravity gardening experiment, highlighting the potential for future food production beyond Earth.