NASA astronaut Anil Menon recently harvested and cooked fresh greens aboard the International Space Station (ISS), demonstrating the potential for food production during long-duration space missions. In a video shared on X, Menon and fellow astronaut Jessica Meir showcased their culinary efforts, preparing meals from kale and wasabi mustard greens that had been cultivated for approximately one month. This initiative is part of NASA’s ongoing research into sustainable food growth in space environments.
“On this episode we give you farm-to-table, simple, and delicious. This Kale and Wasabi Mustard was grown on ISS over one month. We harvested several leaves and put them to the test. It might be the best meal we have cooked so far. Thanks to the @NASA veggie team for guiding us through the growth process and providing simple skills that could help provide food for future space travel. Mark Watney would be proud,” Menon wrote while sharing the video. The experiment takes place inside NASA’s Veggie plant-growth chamber, which helps scientists understand how plants respond to microgravity. The research could be crucial for future long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Fresh vegetables could augment packaged meals, add nutrients and provide astronauts with a psychological boost on missions that could last for months or even years. Eventually, it could also reduce the amount of food that has to be shipped from Earth to grow food in space.
Menon praised NASA’s Veggie team for helping the astronauts learn about the growing process and simple ways to cultivate.
The experiment also had a science fiction twist, with Menon saying the fictional astronaut Mark Watney from ‘The Martian’ who grows potatoes on Mars “would be proud”.
The pair will replace a space-to-ground antenna used for high-rate communications between NASA’s Mission Control Centre in Houston and the space station. Menon is also scheduled to go outside the ISS with astronaut Sophie Adenot on August 18 in a spacewalk lasting about six-and-a-half hours.
