When Eric Philips boards SpaceX’s Dragon capsule next month, he’ll carry an unexpected organic payload: oyster mushrooms. One of his side quests is to cultivate the first-ever crop of mushrooms in space. And this could mark a new chapter for sustainable astronaut nutrition.

Led by Australian company FOODiQ Global, the experiment — dubbed Mission MushVroom — aims to prove that oyster mushrooms can flourish in microgravity. It’s a first step toward growing this kind of nutrient-rich food on future lunar bases or Mars colonies.

“They double in size every day,” Dr. Flávia Fayet-Moore, the chief executive of Australian company FOODiQ Global, told The Guardian, explaining the benefits of these mushrooms. “They don’t need a lot of inputs: they don’t need any special fertilisers, they don’t need a lot of water.”

The Perfect Space Crop

Mushrooms are a nutritional powerhouse. They naturally contain vitamin D, potassium, selenium, and copper — nutrients astronauts typically obtain from a variety of foods like nuts, seeds, and vegetables. NASA considers them an ideal “grow, pick, and eat” crop, almost perfect in environments where processing food is impractical.

This isn’t the first fungi experiment in space. Last year, researchers from Australia’s Swinburne University sent fungal root-like structures, called mycelia, to the International Space Station. But limited space prevented actual mushrooms — the fruiting bodies — from forming. The new mission, Fram2, set to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, will be the first to grow the fruiting bodies of a fungus.

Phillips, an experienced polar explorer, is tasked with documenting the mushrooms’ growth, watching for signs of contamination, and assessing their condition. Once back on Earth, the mushrooms will undergo detailed analysis to understand how microgravity influenced their nutritional value and overall development.

Sustainable Food for Far-off Worlds

As NASA plans longer journeys, creating reliable, nutritious food sources on site is a major advantage. Cargo volume is at a premium in space and the farther out you are from Earth, the cost grows exponentially. Being able to grow from something as small as fungi spores would be a huge advantage. Mushrooms have a fast growth cycle of around 30 days compared to the 100 days needed for some plants.

“The reason why we’re researching this is to really create a sustainable, nutritious, and delicious food supply for the exploration missions to the Moon and Mars,” Dr. Fayet-Moore told ABC.

But understanding how fungi behave in space also has implications back on Earth. Professor Jenny Mortimer from the University of Adelaide believes these experiments could help terrestrial agriculture. In fact, it might teach us a thing or two about farming under harsh conditions.

“Mushrooms are a really critical part of thinking about that whole circular system of how we feed and support people long term,” Mortimer said.

The Fram2 mission isn’t alone in exploring how plants and fungi fare beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Researchers worldwide are preparing similar missions, such as sending duckweed and other plant species to the Moon in NASA’s Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2027.

Together, these experiments will help scientists answer critical questions: Can plants thrive in the hostile lunar and Martian environments? How do radiation, microgravity, and extreme conditions affect growth? And could the insights we gain from these missions help us improve farming back home?

For now, all eyes are on the Fram2 mission. If the mushrooms thrive, Philips and his crew will return with a small but significant harvest — one that could help feed the next generation of space explorers.