• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

In A First For NASA, Astronauts Try To Grow Chile Peppers On International Space Station

July 25, 2021 by arya Riley Leave a Comment

Astronauts on the international space station have been trying to explore new things. Now they are doing something to spice up their diets. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, astronauts aboard the ISS are growing red and green chile peppers. This is being done by astronauts as part of the food crop production experiment being carried by NASA. The US space agency said that this is one of the most challenging and longest plant experiments ever attempted aboard the orbital lab. The plants that are currently being grown on the ISS are from NuMex ‘Espanola Improved’ Seeds. This is a variety of hybrid Hatch chile pepper. These seeds arrived at the space station in June onboard a commercial resupply services mission of SpaceX. These seeds were then planted in Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04). For those who are unaware, Hatch refers to a town in southern New Mexico and a valley in the state famous for its chiles. Hatch chiles are considered to be the best as they have the perfect balance of flavor and heat.

The experiment to grow these seeds was initiated by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. He inserted 48 seeds into the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) on July 12. Kimbrough, a flight engineer, had earlier helped grow “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce in space. He did this in the year 2016. A team with Kennedy Space Center’s Exploration Research and Technology programs has planted these chile seeds in a science carrier, a kind of device that slots into the Advanced Plant Habitat. The APH is one of the three chambers that can be used for growing plants by astronauts in the orbiting laboratory. APH is about the size of the kitchen oven and it is the largest facility for growing plants on the International Space Station. The APH is fitted with at least 180 sensors and controls. This allows researchers at the Kennedy Space Center to partially control the experiment. It is important as this means astronauts will not have to spend a lot of time tending to the crops on the ISS. Recently, a video was shared by Kennedy Space Centre on its Twitter page. The video shows astronaut Shane Kimbrough adding water to it. “This is for the first time in the history of NASA when astronauts are cultivating a crop of chile peppers on the ISS from seeds to maturity,” the space agency said in a release.

It will take four months for seeds to be ready for harvest. According to PH-04 principal investigator Matt Romeyn, it is one of the most complex experiments when it comes to growing plants on the ISS. They have already harvested veggies like lettuce and radishes. “This is because of the long germination and growing times. Earlier we tested flowering in order to enhance the chance for a successful harvest. This was done because astronauts have pollinated the peppers in order to grow fruits,” Romeyn said. Researchers spent around two on evaluating around two dozen varieties of pepper. Eventually, the picked hybrid Hatch pepper NuMex “Española Improved.” This experiment may result in offering astronauts something to satisfy their menu fatigue. This is because astronauts live in microgravity and can temporarily lose their sense of taste or small. Once the peppers are ready for harvest, the crew members will eat some of them and will send the remaining back on the earth for analysis. The crew members will share their feedback about how the flavor and texture. These peppers will also be analyzed and compared with those grown back on Earth. NASA is continuously looking at ways to improve and supplement the diets of space dwellers. This will definitely be a big step in this direction. According to Romeyn, harvesting plants and vegetables of different colors and smells helps in the improvement of well being of astronauts.

arya Riley
arya Riley

Related posts:

  1. You have heard of Donkey Kong, Now Prepare Yourself for Monkey Mind-pong, Thanks to Elon Musk’s Neuralink Implantable Brain-machine Interfaces
  2. Earth’s Oxygen Rich Atmosphere Has Life Span Of Another 1 Billion Years: Study
  3. NASA Completes Assembling Work Of Space Launch System For Artemis Program, First Launch Next Year
  4. Study Finds Jupiter Clouds Have Water In Enough Quantity To Support Microbial Life Thrive

Filed Under: Science

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • The “Eyes Of Clavius” Will Be Visible On The Moon Today, Thanks To Clair-Obscur Effect
  • Shockingly High Microplastic Levels Found On Remote Mediterranean Coral Reef Island
  • Interstellar Object, Cheesy Nightmares, And Smooching Orcas
  • World’s Largest Martian Meteorite Up For Auction Could Reach Whopping $2-4 Million
  • Kimalu The Beluga Whale Undergoes Pioneering Surgery And Becomes First Beluga To Survive General Aesthetic
  • The 1986 Soviet Space Mission That’s Never Been Repeated: Mir To Salyut And Back Again
  • Grisly Incident In Yellowstone National Park Shows Just How Dangerous This Vibrant Wilderness Can Be
  • Out Of All Greenhouse Gas Emitters On Earth, One US Organization Takes The Biscuit
  • Overly Ambitious Adder Attempts To Eat Hare 10 Times Its Mass In Gnarly Video
  • How Fast Does A Spacecraft Need To Go To Escape The Solar System?
  • President Trump’s Cuts To USAID Could Result In A “Staggering” 14 Million Avoidable Deaths By 2030
  • Dzo: Hybrids Beasts That Are Perfectly Crafted For Life On Earth’s Highest Mountains
  • “Rarest Event Ever” Had A Half-Life 1 Trillion Times Longer Than The Age Of The Universe – How Did We See It?
  • Meet The Bille, A Self-Righting Tetrahedron That Nobody Was Sure Could Exist
  • Neurogenesis Confirmed: Adult Brains Really Do Make New Hippocampal Neurons
  • RFK Jr Suggested Letting Bird Flu Run Through Farms – Experts Still Think It’s A Bad Idea
  • “For Unknown Reasons”: Mystery Of The Oldest Human Remains Ever Found In Antarctica
  • Alaska’s Wilderness At Risk As Trump Opens “Up To 82 Percent” Of National Reserve To Drilling
  • “Life-Changing” Gene Therapy Restores Hearing In Deaf Patients Within Weeks After Just One Shot
  • Man Broke Down Wall In His Basement And Discovered An Ancient Underground City That Once Housed 20,000 People
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version