Astronaut Taquera Makes First-Ever Taco Made From [Hatch] Chiles Grown In Space, Says They Are the ‘Best Space Tacos Yet’
Megan McArthur and her floating taco aboard ISS, credit: Astro_Megan/Twitter
[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]he bad news?
Earth may very well become uninhabitable in the near future, forcing what’s left of humanity to flee into space in search of suitable living conditions on another planet.
The good news?
There will be tacos.
On Twitter, NASA astronaut and UCLA grad Megan McArthur showed off the galactic tacos she and her comrades prepared in orbit on the International Space Station last week. As seen in her photos, the taco even floated in the air.
The tacos included the first harvest of Hatch chile cultivars grown aboard the ISS over the last few months. ISS Research calls the effort to grow chiles in space, “One of the most complex plant experiments to date on station” due to “long germination and growing times.”
Worth it?
Probably. If this means that someday we’ll be able to curry favor with our new extraterrestrial with an offering of chile rellenos.
But there is more bad news. These are not really the rajas tacos of your taco-iest dreams.
Due to the limitations of zero gravity and all that scientific shit, the tacos had to be made with fresh, unroasted chile, rehydrated tomato and artichoke, and Fajita beef that comes from who-knows-where, all situated within a flour tortilla that looks like it came from our kid’s Fisher-Price taco truck. Ground control to Sonoratown…we need your help!
Still, by most legal definitions, they are tacos. While McArthur herself says they’re her “best space tacos yet.”
They already sound like a vast improvement on Matt Damon’s pee-grown potatoes in The Martian. And either way, it’s good to know some of our favorite taqueros will be needed up there when Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk leave the rest of us behind.
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