KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The Fram2 mission, scheduled to launch on March 31 via SpaceX rocket, will be the first-ever manned spaceflight to fly in a polar orbit over the Earth.
But that’s not the only historic first for this mission. It will also be carrying a payload some might call magic: fruiting mushrooms intended to grow in space.
FOODiQ Global is launching “Mission MushVroom” to grow oyster mushrooms in space aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This groundbreaking experiment will explore how oyster mushrooms can thrive in microgravity, providing a sustainable food source for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
Dr. Flávia Fayet-Moore, principal investigator, shares her excitement.
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“Mission MushVroom” is the first experimental attempt to grow actual mushrooms in space,” said Dr. Fayet-Moore. “See there? That’s the mycelium, the organism where mushrooms grow. We will prepare it, send it to be put on the rocket, and then we’ll anxiously await it. Then three and a half days later, it will splash down, we’ll open it up and see what it looks like. Did it grow?”
Annie Shelton, mission scientist and payload lead, emphasizes the significance of this experiment.
“Nobody has grown them yet in microgravity. So it’s important to at least take the first steps into understanding and actually visualizing how the fruiting bodies react to the space environment,” said Shelton.
Dr. Flávia further explained the nutritional benefits of mushrooms.
“They’re extremely nutritionally rich, so they have nutrients found across the food groups. They have this amazing ability, just like we do, to make vitamin D when exposed to UV light,” said Dr. Flávia. “So you put mushrooms in the sun just for about 15 minutes, and they will produce the same amount of vitamin D as what’s in a supplement that’s given to astronauts.”
Shelton adds, “Everybody has to eat. So if we are going to be traveling deep into space, there needs to be a stable food supply that is also delicious and nutritious. To be a young scientist and be the one who is sending the first fruiting mushrooms to space is definitely a big deal.”
Dr. Flávia concluded, “Food is nutrition in space. We need it. But at the same time, it’s cultural identity, it’s joy, it’s social connections. So it’s really important that, you know, when we’re going to Mars, my first question is what’s for dinner?”
Mission MushVroom is crucial as NASA has identified food and nutrition as a top priority for space exploration, underscoring the importance of developing sustainable food systems for future missions.