Chile Pepper Fun Fact - Astronauts on the International Space Station
NASA grew and harvested chili peppers in space, a scientific breakthrough. It's confirmed... Chile Peppers are out of this world! See what we did there?
Astronauts on the International Space Station grew chili peppers for the first time, which a NASA astronaut used for tacos to feed the crew.
The seeds were brought to the ISS in June, part of NASA experiment to see what foods can be grown in space. The experiment was to help establish possible food sources for long missions, potentially to Mars.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur tweeted on Friday that the crew tasted the peppers, and that she used them in tacos along with fajita beef and vegetables. She called them her "best space tacos yet."
NASA said in July that the peppers would grow for about four months as part of its Plant Habitat-04 investigation. It said the process was "the first time NASA astronauts will cultivate a crop of chili peppers on the station from seeds to maturity."
NASA said that the crew would eat the peppers if they seemed good, and also save some to bring back to Earth for study.