Houston, we have a podcast.

Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center,

episode 172, Plants in Space.

I'm Pat Ryan.

On this podcast, we talk with scientists, engineers, astronauts, all kinds of experts about their

part in America's space exploration program. Today's guests are from the scientist category and you may have guessed we are talking plant science.

To explore space with human beings there are some hurdles to jump that just aren't

there for robotic missions.

You got to provide air for your humans to breathe,

water for them to drink, food for them to eat.

Now you've gone food shopping.

Imagine the space you would need to store all of the food that it would take

to feed a crew of astronauts on a mission to Mars that will last four years, and with no grocery

stores along the way, we've checked.

Sustainable human exploration means having a way to provide food

without bringing it all with us,

and not counting on having food replicators like they have on Starfleet vehicles, we need another way.

Fortunately, we have scientists who have been working on this challenge for years and today I get to talk to two of them about our progress.

Dr. Joyam Massa works on space crop production for the International Space Station and future missions at the

NASA Kennedy Space Center, where she led the science team for the in-space validation of the veggie experiment hardware,

and now leads an interdisciplinary group studying how both fertilizer and light affect the flavor of crops grown and

veggie. She's also involved in education and outreach programs related to

...