Nova Scotia blueberries to blast off into space
November 30, 2012

Nova Scotia organic blueberries will soon be straight out of this world.

The Nova Scotia Blueberry Fields organic food bars are one of many food items that will blast off with Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield on a six-month mission to the International Space Station in December.

"Since we had our own Canadian astronaut flying we thought, 'wouldn't it be just great to be able to send him some real Canadian snack," said Carol Duval, spokeswoman for the Canadian Space Agency.

Duval said the 32 snack bars will be rationed over the six-month long mission, orbiting about 100 kilometres above earth.

Duval said the blueberry bars meet the criteria, partly because of their nutrition and partly because they don't make crumbs.

"What will happen to the crumbs in space, well they are going to be floating just like the astronauts, and then trying to catch all those crumbs floating everywhere could be a bit difficult, could even be dangerous if you have these crumbs floating into equipment," she said.

Duval said the bars are also a great conversation piece.

"He's going to be able to stop, look at this special food coming from Canada, share with his astronaut colleagues coming from Russia, coming from the United States, and maybe take this time to reflect on Canada and talk about his beautiful country," said Duval.

For Darlene Hill, an organic blueberry grower back in Nova Scotia, the orbiting blueberries are something to talk about.

"Organic food is the way to go and we are sending it out into space because we want people to be healthy when they are out there. This is what it is all about, you know," she said.