NASA’s Expedition 72 cooked up a “space version of hot wings” to get answers to a BIG question: “Will they taste as hot in space as they do on Earth?”
In a post on X on February 10, NASA astronauts Nick Hague shared a picture, saying he and Butch Wilmore prepared a “zero-g-friendly chicken with different hot sauces for the Expedition 72 crew’s Super Bowl celebration on the International Space Station.”
Nick Hague’s post read, “How is Expedition 72 tailgating for the Super Bowl? We’re cooking up a space version of hot wings and projecting the pre-game coverage on the big screen. The big question is, will they taste as hot in space as they do on Earth? We are about to find out!”
They finally have answers to this question now.
“Our space version of hot wings was a flaming hot success!,” Hague said. Describing the taste, Hague said, “Spice intensity is more muted than on Earth.”
Hague said the astronauts used shredded chicken and a spoon, “which kept most of the sauce off our hands and lips, but it was still enough heat to elicit teary eyes and tongues on fire!
The story about the hot swings left netizens wonder if astronauts “use magnets on the bottoms of the bottles”. One exclaimed, “Hot wing challenge from space!” Another asked, “So, do space hot wings taste as spicy at the ISS?”
One social media user also said, “Like stars dancing on taste buds in zero gravity! Your cosmic cuisine is pure poetry.” One asked, “Taste buds agnostic per free fall?”
NASA’s Expedition 72 began on September 23, 2024 and ends in Spring 2025. The orbital residents will explore a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off the Earth including pharmaceutical manufacturing, advanced life support systems, genetic sequencing in microgravity, and more.
