How do plants grow in space? The Children’s Hour Kids Crew learns about space gardening with NASA researcher and space farmer, Jacob “Pepperseed” Torres. His Moon Chile Challenge invites kids worldwide to join in the research on how to best grow food off of planet Earth. Plus, Thaniel teaches us about the evolution of what’s on the astronaut’s menu. A learning guide comes with this space gardening podcast for kids to expand your knowledge further.

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Astronauts need nutritious food, but it can be hard to get in space. That’s why NASA and other space agencies around the world, have been working on developing space gardens. Our guest Jacob “Pepperseed” Torres is a NASA researcher who has been developing a technique to grow plants in space. 

Jacob developed the Space Chile Challenge, and then the Moon Chile Challenge, which enables kids from around the world to participate in the research.

In this community science project, anyone can request seeds be sent to them with instructions on how to best further the research. To imitate how plants will grow in space, or on the moon, community scientists (kids!) grow the chile seeds indoors.

Anyone can request the Martinez Chimayo Chile seeds from Jacob and all he asks if for participants to return some information about how the project went.

In thinking about space gardens, we wanted to know more about what astronauts already are eating on their missions, and how the menu in space has changed over time. Thaniel gives us a deep dive into the foods in space that astronauts eat.

This episode of The Children’s Hour was written and produced by Thaniel Lentz, with Isaac Lacerda. Production help included executive producer, Katie Stone, and producers Sarah Gabrielli, McKenzie Graunke and Samantha Diatz. This episode was recorded at Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Chad Scheer. Amber Shiel writes our learning guides. 

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