‘Alien tomato’ finally found 8 months after it went missing

Astronaut Frank Rubio has been exonerated of charges that he ate one of the first tomatoes produced in space which has been finally found, as per the International Space Station (ISS) crew.

Nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said during a live broadcast ceremony commemorating the station's 25th anniversary that the remains of the little tomato had been discovered eight months after Rubio misplaced it.

"Our good friend Frank Rubio, who headed home [already], has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato," Moghbeli said.

Rubio, who returned to Earth in September, had been the focus of hilarious charges claiming that he had consumed the space-grown fruit for months.

"I spent so many hours looking for that thing," Rubio said during a September ISS live stream. "I'm sure the desiccated tomato will show up at some point and vindicate me, years in the future."

The astronauts did not say where the tomato was discovered or its condition, although Rubio had previously anticipated that it would be in advanced decay owing to the humidity aboard the station.