NASA astronauts season the International Space Station – by growing chili peppers on board for the first time

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Outer space just got spicier, thanks to a new NASA initiative to add more flavor to astronauts’ diets.

NASA announced last week that astronauts aboard the International Space Station are growing red and green peppers for the first time. Hatch chili seeds arrived at the station in June, thanks to a SpaceX commercial resupply services mission.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who blasted off to the International Space Station in April, began the experiment dubbed Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04). He’s grown plants in the tropical lab before, and snacked on “cool” red lettuce in 2016.

A team of researchers at the Kennedy Space Center has planted 48 seeds in a device called the science carrier, which contains mud for the roots to grow in and a fertilizer specifically designed to control the launch. The device enters the Advanced Plant Habitat, which is one of three plant growth chambers on board the boat.

“APH is the space station’s largest plant growth facility and has 180 sensors and controls to monitor plant growth and the environment,” said Nicole Dufour, project manager. “It’s a diverse growth room, and it allows us to help control the experiment from Kennedy, reducing the time astronauts spend tending crops.”

NASA astronaut and Flight 65 engineer Shane Kimbra inserts a device called the science carrier into the Advanced Plant Habitat, which contains 48 chili pepper seeds, which NASA began growing on July 12, 2021. NASA

The peppers will spend about four months growing before they can be harvested and eaten, the first time astronauts have grown peppers on the station from seed to maturity. If the data indicated the pepper was safe, the crew would eat some of it and send the rest back to Earth for analysis.

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“It is one of the most complex plant experiments at the plant to date due to the long germination and growing times,” said lead researcher Matt Romain. “We have previously tested flowering to increase the chance of a successful harvest because astronauts will have to pollinate peppers to grow fruit.”

Astronauts planted the first flower on the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016, the flower that preceded the longer-duration, fruit-bearing, pepper-bearing flowering crops. The NuMex ‘Española Improved’ pepper, a Hatch hybrid pepper, was selected after more than two years of researching dozens of pepper species in search of the perfect space crop.

“The challenge is being able to feed crews in low Earth orbit, then support explorers during future missions outside low Earth orbit to destinations that include the moon, as part of the Artemis program, and eventually to Mars,” Rommen said. “We are restricted to crops that do not need extensive storage or processing.”

Inside the space station processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, peppers are harvested Jan. 15, 2020, to assess growth in preparation for sending into space. NASA / Ben Smeijlsky

Scientists hope the crop will help supplement the diet of astronauts on future missions, providing vitamin C and other much-needed nutrients. Plus, due to living in microgravity, astronauts can lose some of their sense of taste and smell — increasing the demand for spicy or spicy foods.

“Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for both physical and psychological health,” Romain said. “We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with color and aroma helps improve the well-being of astronauts.”

The researchers will monitor the pepper’s growth and compare it to a control group on Earth. They plan to gather crew opinions on the pepper’s flavor and texture, as well as Scoville measurements.

“The spice of a pepper is determined by the environmental growing conditions. The combination of microgravity, light quality, temperature, and root zone moisture will affect the flavor, so it will be interesting to see how the fruit grows, ripens and tastes,” said team leader Lachelle Spencer. “This is important because the food the astronauts eat must be as good as the rest of their equipment. To successfully send people to Mars and bring them back to Earth, we will not only demand the most nutritious foods, but the best-tasting foods we will.”

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