Science News Roundup: NASA looks to spice up astronaut menu with deep space food production; China will launch Shenzhou-16 mission to Chinese space station on May 30

Its innovation has put it in the finals of a NASA-sponsored contest to encourage development of next-generation technologies for meeting the food needs of astronauts.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

China will launch Shenzhou-16 mission to Chinese space station on May 30

China will send three astronauts to its now fully operational space station on Tuesday as part of a crew rotation, in the fifth manned mission to the Chinese space outpost since 2021, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Monday. The spacecraft Shenzhou-16 will lift off atop a Long March 2F rocket at 9:31 a.m (0131 GMT).

NASA looks to spice up astronaut menu with deep space food production

In the 2015 sci-fi film "The Martian," Matt Damon stars as an astronaut who survives on a diet of potatoes cultivated in human feces while marooned on the Red Planet. Now a New York company that makes carbon-negative aviation fuel is taking the menu for interplanetary cuisine in a very different direction. Its innovation has put it in the finals of a NASA-sponsored contest to encourage development of next-generation technologies for meeting the food needs of astronauts.

(With inputs from agencies.)