Ever hear of zinnia flowers? Us either. But one thing's for sure, they look pretty in space. 

An English astronaut, Major Tim Peake, has been tending to the pretty flower since they were planted by NASA's Scott Kelly as part of the project, VEG-01 Investigation. 

In December, Scott tweeted a photo of rather sad-looking plants, and many decided there and then that no flowers could survive in space.

But, after Tim's love and care the buds have bloomed into gorgeous orange flowers.

The zinnia flowers are being grown in the 'veggie' facility in the International Space Station, alongside other various plant species, to see what can actually be grown and what will fail. 

The project is a part of an educational outreach programme, so crew members can grow plants and food on long-duration missions. 

So far, the crew have successfully grown lettuce, which they consumed last year. The plants are grown on special pillows, where various amounts of water is given to see how it affects growth. 

The crew are hoping to try a tomato next.