Chile peppers from Hatch, New Mexico, arrived at the station in June as a part of an experiment initiated by astronaut Shane Kimbrough, NASA said. �

In a NASA first, astronauts are growing chile peppers on the International Space Station

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2021-07-20 16:00:06

Chile peppers from Hatch, New Mexico, arrived at the station in June as a part of an experiment initiated by astronaut Shane Kimbrough, NASA said.

“It is one of the most complex plant experiments on the station to date because of the long germination and growing times,” Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for PH-04, said in a NASA news release.

A team with the Kennedy Space Center’s Exploration Research and Technology programs planted the seeds in a science carrier that slots into a plant growth chamber, the Advanced Plant Habitat, on the orbiting laboratory where astronauts raise crops, according to NASA.

The astronauts will have to wait before taking a bite. The peppers take four months to grow, and astronauts will have to harvest them a final time before being eaten.

The crew plans to eat some of the peppers and send the rest back to Earth for analysis if it is shown that they are safe to eat.