When it comes down to it, we humans have two major concerns when venturing away from house for an prolonged period of time: what we’ll eat, as well as where we will sleep. depending upon the mode of travel, you may take some snacks along, or else depend on restaurants and/or the pantry of your possible hosts. up until the day we can reliably grow many kinds of food in space, or that Milliways, that five-star eatery at the end of the world is operational, astronauts as well as other space-bound travelers will have to bring most of their food with them.
Cubes as well as Tubes
Space food has its roots in armed forces rations, which in the united states were devised during the Revolutionary War. Both the range as well as shipment techniques of food have altered significantly since the beginning of the area program. While the menu may have at very first been restricted to tubes of nutrient-rich goo, bite-sized cubes as well as freeze-dried powdered beverages, the fare is more far-out these days. Astronauts on the ISS even enjoy tortillas, fresh fruits, as well as vegetables thanks to resupply missions, though they have to eat a few of these kinds of foods quickly.
The typical astronaut has likewise altered rather a bit, too. At first, they were all young as well as super-fit ex-military men, however nowadays they are more likely to be middle-aged science-y types as well as women. All three of these groups have different nutritional needs when dealt with with the rigors of living as well as working in space.
Space Erases Taste, as well as things Don’t stay In Place
A tray of area foods outfitted for zero-gravity with springs, magnets, as well as Velcro to keep things in place. Public domain via Wikipedia
Aside from the occasional bout of gastrointestinal distress, many of us take for granted the simplicity with which we eat as well as digest food right here on Earth. early on, scientists were unsure whether astronauts would be able to digest as well as take in nutrients, or even swallow food at all in zero or microgravity.
The point is to keep the astronauts alive, obviously, however likewise to provide great nutrition with their preferred foods whenever possible. The issue with area is that there is no gravity to pull bodily fluids downward, so whatever flows evenly throughout the head as well as torso. This results in a congested head feeling, total with a diminished sense of taste.
They understood at the outset that area foods as well as beverages had to inspect a few boxes; whatever must be lightweight, palatable, nutritious, as well as not especially perishable. It likewise has to make it through the trip into space, including the temperature changes, vibrations, as well as different gases along the way.
In addition to physiological considerations, there are zero-gravitational considerations for preparing the food, packaging it, as well as then really eating the stuff without it floating everywhere as well as gumming up the instruments.
Of Tubes as well as Tang
John Glenn’s tube of beef as well as vegetable goo from friendship 7. picture via Smithsonian national Air as well as area Museum
One of Yuri Gagarin’s assignments aboard Vostok 1 was to try eating something to ensure that the Soviet scientists might research study the impacts on the very first human to eat in space. Yuri slurped from three tubes utilizing a straw: two of them had puréed meat, as well as the third was full of chocolate sauce. later that year on Vostok 2, Gherman Titov earned the title of very first person to vomit in space, making it remove that much better nutrition was necessary.
John Glenn was the very first American to eat in area while aboard friendship 7 in 1962, as well as he did so armed with a metal tube of pureed beef as well as vegetables as well as one more full of applesauce. Here’s a fun fact: Tang was not invented for astronauts. It was offered to consumers a few years before Mr. Glenn famously drank some in space, nevertheless it did not offer well up until that event. You may state that sales skyrocketed afterward.
Just add Water
Freeze-dried foods were introduced during the Gemini program to supplement the dehydrated as well as bite-sized offerings. These were coated with either oil or gelatin to keep them from crumbling. whatever was vacuum-packed into four-ply laminated bundles with a port at one end for injecting water sourced from the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells.
A replica corned beef on rye in resin, on screen at the Gus Grissom Memorial museum in Indiana. picture via prominent Mechanics
A typical Gemini meal included a beef sandwich, peaches, strawberry cereal cubes, as well as a packet of beef as well as gravy. despite this appealing fare, astronaut John young snuck a corned beef on rye aboard to surprise Gus Grissom, who liked them.
As you may imagine, bread crumbs started floating as soon as he pulled it out of his area fit pocket, so he put it away soon after. This incident did not go unnoticed by NASA, who provided young a slap on the wrist as well as then tightened up the listing of what astronauts might bring together with them.
The 1966 film embedded below was shot at Natick army Laboratory, who established food for the Apollo program. It explores the establishment of a baseline for nutrition with extensive testing that researchers really hoped was an exaggeration of what astronauts would experience during area travel.
Chow Time On the Apollo
A packet of thermostabilized turkey as well as gravy. picture via Smithsonian national Air as well as area Museum
The Apollo program saw considerable modifications in food packaging as well as near-constant menu growth in an effort to keep the astronauts healthy as well as happy. individual comments was a major catalyst for change. all of the astronauts’ meals were almost similar on the early missions, however by the time they introduced Apollo 17, the meals were extremely individualized for every person.
Making Spirits Bright
Occasionally, they would even get a special treat. On Christmas Eve 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts were surprised to discover pouches of thermostabilized turkey with gravy as well as cranberry sauce that didn’t have to be reconstituted. as well as for the very first time, they ate with spoons. The resulting boost in morale made this weight boost justifiable for future missions, as well as the wetpack was born.
It was around this time around that NASA truly started to think about private preferences when devising recipes. A lady named Rita Rapp established a spoon-bowl bundle that enabled astronauts to enjoy a more Earth-like eating experience.
Here is a total overview of the Apollo Food innovation program, which was the motivation for this post. It has detailed info about all the foods the astronauts ate during the Apollo program, including full menus from each mission. It is likewise a nice exploration of the advancement of space-worthy foodstuffs as well as the restrictions of same.
Skylab’s the Limit
Skylab, the very first us area station that was developed out of Apollo parts, seems like it was the height of weightless dining luxury. There was a galley, a table, as well as each team member’s tray contained heating elements.
There weren’t as well many dehydrated foods on Skylab,
Each location at Skylab’s table contained heating elements. picture via Google Arts & Culture
because it ran on solar cells instead of water-producing fuel cells. many of the foods were kept in plastic pouches as well as aluminum cans with pop tops.
Skylab likewise had a little refrigerator/freezer as well as for the very first time, astronauts ate genuine ice cream. By the way, freeze-dried ice cream isn’t genuine astronaut food. Although the stuff was established for NASA as well as even appears in the Apollo 7 press set (PDF, page 83), it has never flown into space, only off of the shelves of gift shops.
Eating Aboard the ISS
As astronauts spend longer as well as longer periods in space, the requirement for tasty as well as nutritious food only grows more important. Today, astronauts go to the NASA test kitchen area very first to assist plan the menus before their trip to space. They enjoy whatever from fresh fruits to spaghetti to beef jerky depending upon preference. However, since the food continues to taste dull since of the congestion triggered by weightlessness, the most prominent products in the pantry are the salt, the pepper, as well as the hot sauce.
In the video below, astronaut Chris Hadfield makes a peanut butter as well as honey sandwich in space. If you’re still hungry for more, inspect out this longer video about eating aboard the ISS in general.
The ISS doesn’t get absolutely whatever delivered, food-wise. since 2002, they’ve been growing food inside a couple of little greenhouses. Not only does this supplement their diet, science gains insight into exactly how food can be grown in space.
And then there’s prohibited food made in space. keep in mind when they had to bake cookies as well as send them back to earth without eating any?