NASA announced that, in a few months, astronauts on the International Space Station could taste the red and green chillies fully grown on board thanks to thePlant Habitat-04 experiment (PH-04), which should make outer space “spicier”, although it will actually add a little more flavor to astronauts’ diets.
THE Hatch chili seeds arrived at the space station in June, aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial refueling service mission, and the NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who arrived on the ISS in April at the head of the Crew-2, was the one who initiated the experiment.
Kimbrough, a flight engineer who is part of the seven-member crew of the Expedition 65, has previous experiences of cultivation in space and of the PH-04 project, helping grow and eat “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce in late 2016.
A team, with Kennedy Space Center’s research and exploration technology programs, planted 48 seeds in a device called a science carrier, which has clay to grow roots and a specially formulated controlled-release fertilizer.
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The device is inserted in the’Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), one of the three plant growth chambers in the orbiting laboratory where astronauts farm.