Rung #42 — 2026-07-11

The answer was:

POTATO

The clue ladder, cryptic to obvious:

5 pts: In 1995 I became the first of my kind ever grown beyond the sky, sealed aboard a shuttle.
4 pts: I grow hidden underground, plain and starchy, and I have toppled empires and crossed oceans.
3 pts: When a blight rotted me in the ground, a million people in Ireland starved.
2 pts: Boiled, mashed, or roasted, I come in a thousand varieties and anchor dinner worldwide.
1 pts: Peeled, sliced thin, and dropped in hot oil, I become the world's favorite golden fries.

The potato was the first vegetable grown in space — aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1995.