Artistic Photos of Gioia Massa

Gioia Massa, a NASA project scientist, poses inside a lab at the Space Station Processing Facility located at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Massa’s responsibilities include studying the effects of a microgravity environment on plant growth, discovering the perfect conditions for growing plants in space and determining what plant species grow the most effectively under those conditions. Massa and her team are currently experimenting with growing plants aboard the International Space Station to develop the knowhow to supplement astronauts’ packaged diets with freshly grown crops, which should facilitate long-duration exploration missions into deep space.