That’s one small sprout for China, one giant leaf for mankind.

Cotton seeds ferried to the far the side of the moon in a “mini biosphere” aboard China’s Chang'e-4 spacecraft have sprouted, according to a report from the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

It is the first time any biological matter has been grown on the celestial body.

Placed on the Chang'e-4’s lander, the mini biosphere, which was developed by scientists at China’s Chongqing University, is a sealed, heat-controlled soil, water and air-filled aluminum alloy canister that also contains potato, rapeseed and thale cress seeds, as well as yeast and fruit fly eggs. A tube allows natural light to enter the canister.

Chinese scientists describe the mini biosphere as an “outer space ecosystem experiment” that will “reveal the growth and development status of plants and animals under the low gravity, strong radiation and natural lighting conditions of the moon.”

According to a Xinhua report on Tuesday, researchers believe that the mini biosphere is an important first step in learning how to feed astronauts on future long-term mission missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.

“The plants would generate oxygen and food for other living things to ‘consume,’” Chongqing University scientists explained in an online article. Fruit flies, they added, “as consumers, and yeast, as decomposers, would generate carbon dioxide by consuming oxygen for photosynthesis of plants.” Yeast would then decompose plant and fruit waste while also providing a food source for the insects.

“With this circle, a mini biosphere comprising producers, consumers and decomposers is formed,” they said.

Astronauts have previously cultivated plants on the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong-2 space laboratory. According to Xinhua, the other plants in the mini biosphere have yet to sprout.

On Jan. 3, the Chang'e-4’s lander became the first human-built spacecraft to touch down on the moon’s so-called “dark side.”