Australian researchers plan to test that option on March 31 in a human spaceflight that will orbit over the polar ice caps and take mushrooms on board for the first time.
If the experiment succeeds, researchers say it could help feed astronauts on future long-duration missions and have implications for earthbound agriculture.
The Australian experiment will be one of several due to take place on the Fram2 spaceflight operated by SpaceX and crewed by Chu Wang from Malta, Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway, Rabea Rogge from Germany, and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will take off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and fly over North and South Poles during its four-day mission.
The short journey should be enough time to prove whether oyster mushrooms can grow in microgravity, FOODiQ Global chief executive Flavia Fayet-Moore said, because the fungi develops faster than fruits or vegetables and are known to "double in size every day".
But mushrooms could prove to be the ultimate space crop for more reasons, Dr Fayet-Moore said.
"We need to test if we can grow them in space because they tick all the boxes: not only from an agricultural perspective but from a nutritional perspective," she told AAP.
"Because they're fungi, they're neither animal nor plants, they contain nutrients across typical food groups in the dietary guidelines."
When exposed to UV light, mushrooms could produce enough vitamin D to meet an astronaut's daily requirements, she said, and their umami taste was one of few that remained strong in space, unlikely salty and sweet flavours.
The Fram2 flight will take off with six tubes for growing mushrooms as well as a substrate with "pins," or fungi at the stage before it blooms, to be overseen by Mr Philips.
The experiment, which followed a call-out from the Space Industry Association of Australia, could prove to be a homegrown breakthrough, Dr Fayet-Moore said.
"I'm Australian, my company is Australian, the astronaut performing the experiment is Australian, and the company supplying the kit that we're using is also Australian," she said.
"We have a great ecosystem that allows us to access space."
Other experiments to be conducted on the flight include recording aurora-like phenomena for an open-source database, capturing data about the world's polar regions, and holding a ham radio competition.
Researchers expect to find whether their mushroom experiment has been successful shortly after the capsule splashes down, Fayet-Moore said, and the results could be used in future space missions and to inform land-based activities.
"People don't realise that 98 per cent of the water on the International Space Station is recycled," she said.
"There are so many discoveries and so many advances in technology with space exploration that I believe are going to help solve a lot of problems here on earth."
SpaceX has scheduled up to three launch attempts for the mission within a three-hour window on March 31.
16°C