US astronaut Megan MacArthur has revealed the first appearance of pepper flowers aboard the International Space Station.
“Space News (Peppers) Chili: They’re blooming! Smile. Expect to see little fruits forming within a week,” MacArthur tweeted.
Russian scientists had planned to grow sweet peppers on the International Space Station, but the new Lada-2 greenhouse was lost in December 2016, due to the emergency launch of the Progress MS-04 freighter. In May 2020, Vladimir Sychev, deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biomedical Problems, said the institute, along with Energia, the rocket and space company, were working on a new Russian greenhouse for the station.
And now on board the International Space Station operates the 65th mission, which consists of Russians Oleg Novitsky and Peter Dubrov, Americans Mark Vande Hai, Shane Kimbrough and Megan MacArthur, Japanese Akihiko Hoshide (station commander), as well as Frenchman Tom Pesek.