NASA created an experimental project consisting of growing and harvesting chili peppers in space. This broke the record for feeding an astronaut the most compared to any other plant.
Citing Science Alert, Tuesday (7/12/2021), the experiment also made history as the longest experiment conducted on the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the second time chili has been grown in space. In November it was reported that for the first time the ISS crew used the chili in tacos, along with the beef and vegetable fajita.
Matt Romeyn, chief investigator for pepper experiments, said the crop production team at NASA did not expect to achieve these two records.
Grown cayenne peppers were slightly delayed in their harvest compared to current testing on Earth. This means the trial at the station can be extended for another 17 days.
Meanwhile, pepper seedlings in the experimental center Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) grew for four months before being harvested in October.
“It just so happened that the schedule brought us to a switch from Crew-2 astronauts to Crew-3 astronauts, allowing more astronauts to have the opportunity to taste the peppers,” said Romeyn.
For the new experiment, peppers were initially expected to grow for 120 days. However, they grew longer by about 137 days, which makes it the longest experiment in space.
Also read: NASA Supports 3 Companies to Develop Commercial Space Stations
The longest previous experiment was in 2016 when zinnia flowers were grown for 90 days.
(DRM)
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