NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station have tried tacos with the first chilli peppers grown in space. The chilli peppers started growing back in July. Astronaut, Megan McArthur, tweeted photos of the chilli peppers and the taco.

The reason behind growing chilli peppers is to find new ways of sustaining explorers for missions to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit including Mars. These missions may last for several months or even years and there are limited opportunities for resupply missions.

NASA said in a statement earlier: "Feeding crews on the Moon, and especially Mars, will be a logistical challenge. While crews will still rely on packaged foods from Earth, part of the challenge is that sending supplies beyond low-Earth orbit requires more propellant and longer delivery times, particularly to Mars. Packaged foods stored for long periods results in degradation of the food quality, which reduces the number of key nutrients like Vitamin C and Vitamin K."

In 2015, astronauts started to experiment with growing and eating different types of crops on the space station. Since then, 10 types of crops have been grown and eaten.

The peppers were chosen this time because of many key nutrients and are a good source of Vitamin C. "Peppers are self-pollinating, making the fruit easy to grow as it only requires agitating the plants. Plus, peppers add tasty variety to crew diets," NASA also said.

48 pepper seeds were planted in a device called a science carrier which contains baked clay for the roots to grow in and a controlled release fertiliser specially formulated for peppers.