NASA astronauts make 'space tacos' with green chile peppers successfully grown on ISS

NASA has announced that it has successfully cultivated chile peppers in space for the first time ever. It is the latest breakthrough in a project investigating which crops can be taken to Mars

NASA has announced that astronauts were able to make spicy 'space tacos' after successfully growing chile peppers on the International Space Station.

According to researchers it was 'one of the most challenging' experiments NASA has ever completed.

In a statement on Friday the US space agency said: "The investigation involved microbial analysis to improve understanding of plant-microbe interactions in space and the crew’s assessment of flavor, texture, and nutrition of the first peppers grown in space."

Astronauts have been tending to the fruit since July as part of NASA's Plant Habitat-04 investigation.

The peppers were grown from the Española Improved chile which is found in New Mexico's Hatch Valley.

NASA has previously said that it is one of the few chiles that can be "consumed in both the green and red stages of the pepper’s development".

The space agency has also explained that peppers are particularly tricky to grow in space compared to other crops as "they take longer to germinate, grow, and develop fruit".

ISS Research announced on Twitter: "Happy pepper picking day aboard the @Space_Station!

"Today @Astro_Sabot gets the honor of harvesting the station’s first crop of chile peppers as a part of the Plant Habitat-04 study, one of the most challenging station plant experiments to date."

ISS astronaut Megan McArthur, who has been in orbit since April, also took to Twitter to showcase what she managed to turn the peppers into.

Alongside snaps of her tacos she wrote: "Friday Feasting! After the harvest, we got to taste red and green chile.

"Then we filled out surveys (got to have the data!). Finally, I made my best space tacos yet: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes & artichokes, and HATCH CHILE!"

The chile peppers are the latest in a long line of fruit and veg that NASA have been able to produce in space.

Chinese cabbage, red Russian kale and lettuce are among the ISS' produce.

This recent breakthrough comes two years after NASA first announced its intention to grow Española chile peppers as it looked into which crops astronauts could take to Mars.

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