Citizen Astronaut Explores Food Crop Growth in Space

Oct 02, 2025
By Farms.com

Aisha Bowe's space mission advances plant growth studies

Citizen astronaut and entrepreneur Aisha Bowe made history when she flew aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard (NS-31) mission, carrying a unique question with her: how can humans grow food beyond Earth? This mission was more than a flight—it created a rare chance to design and operate world-class plant biology research in space.

Working as a Science Payload Operator, Bowe collaborated with Blue Origin and university partners to champion the inclusion of food crops in the flight experiment. Sweet potatoes and chickpeas were carefully prepared and flown, giving scientists and students the opportunity to explore how these plants respond under microgravity.

The project built on NASA’s archived plant biology studies, stored in the NASA GeneLab, while extending this work to food crops. Students at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) contributed directly by preparing and analyzing the flown samples, gaining valuable real-world experience in space biology.

The results were significant: the research team produced a peer-reviewed paper detailing the molecular and physiological responses of these crops in space. The findings will be presented at the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney, Australia, on October 1, 2025.

Bowe, a decorated former NASA aerospace engineer, believes the mission proves what is possible when citizen astronauts, scientists, and students unite to conduct meaningful research. "This mission shows what's possible when citizen astronauts work alongside scientists and students to deliver meaningful research," said Bowe. "It's not the typical path, but that's exactly why it matters. We're opening doors to science in space that were closed before."

While it began with just a handful of sweet potatoes and chickpeas, the study points to a larger mission: ensuring the survival of humans beyond Earth. By turning an idea into a flight experiment and then into international science, Bowe demonstrated that the future of space exploration is not only about reaching new worlds—it is about learning how to live on them.

Photo Credit: LinkedIn

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.