Australian researchers sent edible fungi to the ISS for nearly a month; after returning to Earth, the mushrooms grew and were eaten in pasta |

Representative Image of a rocket carrying mycelium fungi launching into space on a mission to the International Space Station (AI Generated Image)

In August 2024, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia sent 36 small vials containing fungi into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station. The vials held mycelium, the filament-like network from which mushrooms grow, belonging to three edible species: lion’s mane, turkey’s tail and cordyceps. The fungi remained aboard the ISS for close to a month before returning to Earth, eventually making their way back to Australia in 2025. Once the researchers had the vials back, they transferred the mycelium into nutrient-rich growing substrates and placed them in different environments to see whether the fungi could produce mushrooms after their time in space. Within days, the first mushrooms began emerging, and within a week the team had a batch of lion’s mane ready to harvest. The researchers then cooked the mushrooms into a creamy pasta sauce and ate them, turning an experiment in space biology into an unusually literal taste test.

Why scientists sent fungi to the ISS

The experiment was led by astrophysicists Sara Webb and Rebecca Allen at Swinburne University of Technology and formed part of the university’s microgravity experimentation programme. It was the team’s sixth payload to the International Space Station. The researchers selected three edible fungi, lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus), turkey’s tail (Trametes versicolor) and cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris), because of their potential relevance to human health and their suitability for growing as fungi. The project was also unusual because school students were involved from the beginning. Twelve students from Haileybury College in Melbourne helped design and prototype the experiment, while professional mushroom growers and suppliers helped provide food-grade fungal strains that were healthy enough for the experiment.The fungi were transported as mycelium rather than fully grown mushrooms. The material was sealed inside specialised packaging designed to maintain suitable conditions and protect it during its journey. Because the experiment was kept sealed aboard the station, the researchers had limited opportunities to see what was happening inside. During the mission, they received only occasional photographs and videos from NASA showing the outside of the experiment.

What happened when the fungi came back to Earth

The mycelium spent close to a month in the ISS environment before returning with a change of crew. It eventually arrived back in Australia in 2025, where the researchers opened the experiment and transferred the fungi into a nutrient-rich growing substrate. The team then placed the material into several grow kits and tested different environments to see where mushrooms would develop most successfully. Some were kept on kitchen benches, others on staff-room tables and others in laboratory fridges.The response was faster than the researchers expected. Within a few days, they saw signs that mushrooms were beginning to emerge. Within about a week, the team had lion’s mane mushrooms ready to harvest. The researchers then tried several recipes with the mushrooms, including the meal that became the most memorable part of the experiment: a creamy pasta sauce. According to Webb and Allen’s account, the mushrooms were dense, rich and strongly aromatic. They melted together with cheese to form the sauce, and the researchers described the first taste as delicious, with the distinctive flavour of lion’s mane coming through clearly. ABC also reported that the mushrooms were ultimately cooked in a cheesy sauce in Melbourne.

The mushrooms survived space, but scientists are still studying them

The researchers say the reduced-gravity environment did not appear to negatively affect the mycelium. After returning to Earth, it continued producing mushrooms, with the team observing several rounds of fruiting. That does not mean the experiment has established that mushrooms grown after spaceflight are identical to those grown entirely on Earth. The researchers are still analysing the harvested mushrooms to determine how their time in space affected them.One of the questions is whether exposure to the space environment, particularly radiation and other stresses, could alter food produced for astronauts. Understanding those effects will be important if fungi are eventually grown as part of food-production systems on long-duration missions. The distinction is important because the experiment was not designed simply to prove that astronauts can grow and eat mushrooms in space. It was an early test of whether edible fungi can survive the journey, remain viable after exposure to a reduced-gravity environment and subsequently produce fruiting bodies back on Earth.

Could mushrooms become space food?

Growing food during long missions could eventually reduce the amount of food astronauts need to carry from Earth. Missions lasting weeks or months will require reliable sources of nutrition, particularly as crews travel farther from Earth and resupply becomes more difficult. Fungi are interesting for this purpose because the part sent into space can be compact and does not require the researchers to transport a fully grown crop. If the mycelium can survive the journey and subsequently produce edible mushrooms under controlled conditions, it could potentially form part of a future space-growing system.The Swinburne experiment also comes as space agencies prepare for increasingly ambitious missions. NASA’s Artemis programme is intended to return humans to the Moon, while future missions could involve much longer stays away from Earth. The researchers say more work is needed to understand how low gravity, radiation and other spaceflight stresses affect food grown in these environments. For now, the experiment has established something much more modest but still unusual: mycelium that travelled to the International Space Station survived its time in space, returned to Earth, produced fresh lion’s mane mushrooms and ended up being served as dinner in Australia. The researchers are now analysing what changed during that journey, and whether the same approach could eventually help produce food during longer missions beyond low Earth orbit.