New Scientific Breakthrough: NASA Grew and Harvested Chili Peppers in Space

NASA astronauts grew and harvested chili peppers for the first time in the International Space Station (ISS).

The chilli peppers were used by the astronaut Megan McArthur to make tacos for the crew.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claims that growing food in space has big advantages for endeavors like trying to visit Mars and other destinations.

The U.S. space agency said the chile peppers were grown for the Plant Habitat-04 investigation. 

NASA's experiment involved microbial analysis to improve the understanding of plant-microbe interactions in space and the crew’s assessment of flavor, texture, and nutrition of the first peppers grown in space

The seeds were brought to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) experiment to see what foods can be grown in space.

The successful experiment will help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) find possible food sources for long missions. 

Astronaut Megan McArthur tweeted this past Friday that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) crew tasted the peppers, and that she used them in tacos along with fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes.

McArthur stated that the astronauts had to fill in surveys after tasting the peppers.

The process developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was the first time astronauts were able to cultivate a crop of chili peppers on the station from seeds to maturity.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut will probably eat the peppers if they are tasty and also save some to bring back them back to Earth for study.

Growing food in space provides logistical benefits over bringing packaged food from Earth. It also brings psychological benefits for the crew.

NASA has already cultivated Chinese cabbage, 3 types of lettuce, red Russian kale and zinnia flowers up in orbit around the Earth.