Astronauts have ‘taco party’ with first chile peppers grown in space
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A taco party with chile peppers grown in space
Astronauts have been growing vegetables such as lettuce and radish on the International Space Station (ISS). This July, they also started growing chile or chilli peppers.
‘Chile’ is how people in Spanish-speaking countries spell ‘chilli’. The astronauts tried growing a type of chile pepper called hybrid Hatch chile pepper. Hatch is a town in New Mexico, US and it is known for its hot chiles. And now finally, the peppers are ready to eat.
So, last Friday, 29 October, astronauts had a ‘taco party’, enjoying tacos with the chile peppers grown in space. It seems the chile peppers are tasty and they enjoyed eating them.
What are tacos?
Tacos are a Mexican dish consisting of a folded or rolled tortilla (flat bread made of corn flour) and filled with various mixtures, such as meat, beans and fresh vegetables.
The astronauts grew the chile peppers on Plant Habitat-04 (a plant-growing space) on the ISS. This is one of the most complex plant experiments on the ISS till now. This is because, unlike the previous experiments, peppers take much longer to grow. The peppers’ spiciness also depends on how much water they get.
Now, astronauts will send back some of the chile peppers grown in space to Earth for study. They will also continue growing them. Moreover, they also wanna try growing tomatoes.
Vegetables in space
Fresh vegetables are very rare for astronauts on the ISS, but they are also healthier. But scientists are trying to grow more of them so that astronauts can enjoy healthy food even if they travel further in space (for example to Mars).
Moreover, astronauts say that growing plants on the ISS makes them feel better mentally.
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