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Hi, I am Matt Romeyn. I'm a plant scientist helping
astronauts grow peppers in space.

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Why?

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Because in order to send humans to
Mars, we need to spice things up.

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NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough recently added water
to 48 seedlings to start the experiment

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aboard the International Space Station.

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The peppers will be grown in the Advanced Plant
Habitat, a plant growth chamber about the

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size of a kitchen oven. The peppers will be ready
for harvest in about 3 and a half months.

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The type of peppers are NuMex ‘Española
Improved’, a hybrid pepper from New Mexico

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often grown in the Hatch valley.

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These peppers had the best combination of performance
and flavor of the nearly two dozen cultivars

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we tested.

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These peppers are not just flavorful, but
also nutritious, being more dense in Vitamin C

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than even an orange.

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This research will expand NASA’s space cookbook
– helping keep astronauts healthy—and

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their senses satisfied-- as we venture to the Moon and Mars.