Matthew Mickens, project scientist, space crop production at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, participates in an employee incentive flying event with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's personal F-5 aircraft, Friday, March 6, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Employee Flight with Administrator Isaacman's F-5 Aircraft
Matthew Mickens, project scientist, space crop production at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, left, and Clara Wright, chief of the laboratories, development, and testing division within the engineering directorate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, right, are seen following an employee incentive flying event using NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's personal F-5 aircraft, Friday, March 6, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Employee Flight with Administrator Isaacman's F-5 Aircraft
Matthew Mickens, project scientist, space crop production at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, left, and Clara Wright, chief of the laboratories, development, and testing division within the engineering directorate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, right, are seen following an employee incentive flying event using NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's personal F-5 aircraft, Friday, March 6, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Employee Flight with Administrator Isaacman's F-5 Aircraft
Sean Gustafson, senior advisor to the NASA Administrator, left; Matthew Mickens, project scientist, space crop production, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, second from left; Trey Carlson, chief of staff at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, third from left; Spencer Barr, Exploration Ground Systems mission assurance manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, fourth from left; Clara Wright, chief of the laboratories, development, and testing division within the engineering directorate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, fifth from left; and Jerry Kerby, pilot, right, pose for a photograph following an employee incentive flying event with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's personal F-5 aircraft, Friday, March 6, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Employee Flight with Administrator Isaacman's F-5 Aircraft
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Space Life Sciences Laboratory, or SLSL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Dr. Matthew Mickens, a plant biologist from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University in North Carolina, measures radish plants that were just harvested from a plant growth chamber. The plants were grown under red and blue LED lights. The plant experiment at Kennedy is part of the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, program in NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. This plant experiment studies the effects of different types of lighting on plants such as radishes and leaf lettuce. Results of these studies will help provide information on how to grow food sources for deep space exploration missions. AES projects pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Ochoa-Gonzales
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Space Life Sciences Laboratory, or SLSL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Dr. Matthew Mickens, a plant biologist from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University in North Carolina, measures radish plants that were just harvested from a plant growth chamber. The plants were grown under red and blue LED lights. The plant experiment at Kennedy is part of the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, program in NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. This plant experiment studies the effects of different types of lighting on plants such as radishes and leaf lettuce. Results of these studies will help provide information on how to grow food sources for deep space exploration missions. AES projects pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Ochoa-Gonzales
KSC-2012-4239
NASA employees participate in an employee incentive flying event using NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's personal F-5 aircraft, Friday, March 6, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Employee Flight with Administrator Isaacman's F-5 Aircraft