In the summertime of 1987 , food scientist Vickie Kloeris was busy clean out theNASASpace Food System Laboratory spot at Johnson Space Center in Houston , Texas , when she and her cobalt - workers made a peculiar discovery . They were preparing for the division ’s resettlement to a new space , sort through decades of materials and paperwork . swallow up underneath , they observe a cache of antiqueastronaut food .
“ There were commode and keister of cub food left from the early space flight of steps geological era , ” Kloeris , the formermanagerof theInternational Space StationFood System , tells Mental Floss . “ We had to get free of them . We had no space for them . ”
But then Kloeris and her colleagues had an idea . “ They had been done in the mid- to late-1960s , ” she says . “ But they were still dependable from a microbiological position . ” The scientists determine to sample the now decades - old food for thought before discarding it .
They opened the tin and found foods diced up for easy intake : cubed cheese sandwiches , cubed bacon , cubed cookie , and “ peanut butter material . ” All of it was shelf - static , just like commercially available canned goods . A little dusty , perhaps , but otherwise edible .
The trove of place solid food was a reminder of how far NASA and space programs had get along from the other days of astronaut menus , and how much further it had to go . The exercise ofconsuming food in spacehas always been a challenge , and dice cheeseflower sandwich are only part of the story .
To Boldly Chew
While today ’s space meal are planned with taste sensation , nutritionary note value ( commonly under 3000 calories , with the proper ratio of proteins , fat , and sugar ) , and optic entreaty in mind , NASA’searliestattempts at provide sustenance for astronauts was focalize mostly on one matter : Could a man even swallow or digest food in space ?
Astronaut John Glenn answered that question in 1962 , when he became the first American to consume food on board the Friendship 7 spacecraft as part of the Mercury mission . “ The original infinite food was tube foods , ” Kloeris say . “ These were puréed nutrient you ’d squeeze into your rima oris . ” Glenn dined on applesauce , and his side dish of sugar tablets and water go bad down without issue ( unless you believe the experience of exhaust from a toothpaste tube an issuing ) . Applesauce was n’t the only option , either ; if Glenn wanted a fancy dinner , puréed beef with vegetables was available .
Each subsequent mission improved on the last , both in footing of engineering and onboard food . The Gemini program introduced the first freeze - dried nutrient made in association with Whirlpool and the United States Army Laboratory . frost - dry meals are pre - cooked , frozen , and then heat up to evaporate the water . After being emptiness - packed , the food for thought is able to be stored safely at room temperatures . When an cosmonaut wanted to catch a bite , they ’d pop a few cubes of halt - dry grub or simply introduce water into the food ’s pocket via a valve to reconstitute it . ( The Apollo mission added the option of using hot water . )
Astronautsenjoyedchicken and vegetable , butterscotch pudding , and other treats in this manner , most in third power form as react to squeezing mush ; thefirstfood ever consumed on the moon was a bacon cube . A coat of gelatin over the food for thought kept crumbs , which could muck up the sensitive machinery onboard a spacecraft , to a minimum . ( Famously , astronaut John Young smuggled a cured bitch sandwich aboard Gemini 3 in 1965 andofferedto share it with Virgil Grissom , but floatingcrumbsforced early abandonment of the sandwich . )
These other deputation also carried thermostabilized foods , which are aura - seal to forefend spoilage and included the canned goods Kloeris later on get hold in the food lab offices . ( NASA eventually deform toward a pouch , which was comfortable and lighter to salt away . ) This approach waschampionedby Rita Rapp , a pioneering food scientist with NASA who , in the 1960s , also worked tointroduce“real ” food alternatives — like grits you could rust with a spoonful — to the more questionable cub luck .
Apollo astronaut and those who come later arrive to try out some of the newer options , including the gain of Meal , Ready - to - Eat ( MRE ) portions , the precise same food supplied to the United States military . It was n’t “ space food ” so much as Earth solid food blast into quad . “ The inclusion body of MRE entrees in the Shuttle food organization was part of the improvements that were made to get NASA off from the ‘ tubes and cubes ’ of the Gemini and Mercury era , ” Kloeris says .
But not everything was a striking . Among thereturnedand unopened items from the Apollo foreign mission were beef - barbecue cubes , fruitcake , and powdered umber with cream , all of which Neil Armstrong passed up during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission .
Because of their retentive shelf life , thermostabilized and freeze - dried foods were and stay the two staples of astronaut food . But the institution of Skylab , the first “ space station , ” in 1973 provided a unexampled addition to galactic food preparation : refrigeration .
“ It was the most advanced food for thought system NASA had ever flown , ” Kloeris says . Skylab used the exterior surroundings to create a cool down chamber inside . Frozen foods could be lay in , heated up , and consumed , all thanks to the formidable solar cells used by the station . Astronauts on Skylab sat at an actual mesa while dining , with their substructure in stirrups to keep them in place ; usually , they — and Space Shuttle astronauts in the 1980s — used a serving tray stick on to the bulwark or their circuit , opening one intellectual nourishment software at a time [ PDF ] .
great power was n’t the only challenge . When Kloeris came on circuit board in 1985 , there was already debate over the nutritionary visibility of the MREs . High in table salt and productive , they were all right for soldiers on the move , but not so much for spaceman in a weightless environment who would n’t be able to work off the large calorie . “ Around 1994 , we started doing ware developing with our scientists in the lab , ” Kloeris says . “ We were making our own version of thermostabilized products . ”
Space Chefs
With a decline in Space Shuttle missions and a shift to long - duration trip-up on the International Space Station ( ISS ) beginning in 1998 , Kloeris and her squad begin tofocusmore on a menu smorgasbord that could keep up astronaut both nutritionally and psychologically . Z 3 - ample foods low in sodium help offset off-white compactness exit common during space geographic expedition . Food also had to be appropriate for the surround .
Most dishes were a success ; some were not . “ With something like soup , you had to check the viscousness to verify it was thick enough , ” Kloeris say . “ It needs to stick to a utensil . If it ’s too thin , it will just float . ”
Kloeris and her squad created freezing - dry scramble eggs , thermostabilized seafood gumbo , and fajitas . Food was either newsbreak - frozen or superheated to vote out off any bacterium , then melodic line - sealed in a outgrowth alike to give notice . Once a recipe wasprovenstable after processing — and make believe it palatable could take numerous attempt — NASA ’s kitchen would invite astronauts in for a taste test .
Kloeris also observe that spaceman were requesting comfort foods like Lorna Doone cookies and M&Ms , both shelf - stable . “ These are commercial-grade , off - the - shelf token . The moisture content is downcast enough that they will last a long time at way temperature , ” Kloeris says . “ We put them in the proper promotional material to protect them from moisture and oxygen . ”
Eventually , NASA decided that the food for thought science lab should undertake more elaborate thermostabilized desserts . At the top of the leaning was a preferred craziness for many .
“ We attempted cheesecake in a pouch , ” Kloeris tell . “ We were never able to get that . It just did not take care good from a optic position . It was excessively brown . ”
cobbler and cocoa pudding patty were far more successful . Heated up in four - sided conductivity ovens , they became so popular with ISS occupants that even Space Shuttle astronauts began call for them .
hot up intellectual nourishment in the conductivity oven or adding hot body of water is about as far as preparation can go aboard spacecraft because of exercising weight and world power restrictions . There was once discussion of a microwave , but Kloeris pronounce that the alteration needed to isolate it from interfering with the onboard electronics added too much exercising weight .
“ And when you first sprain it on , there ’s a bad power spike , ” she say . “ That ’s going to be a job on a space station . ”
Space Food as Comfort Food
As far back as the Apollo 8 commission in 1968 , when astronauts were serve thermostabilized turkey and manna from heaven on Christmas Eve , the psychological constituent to space menu has been important . Food helps keep an astronaut tethered to Earth , even if it ’s only emotionally . Astronauts normally get to pick out a pantry of extra requests — typically commercially - package snacks — to bring with them . Fresh food lockers countenance for perishables like dinero and bananas to be enjoyed while they ’re still in effect . ( Absent of crumbs , tortilla shell tend to be more popular than dough . )
If cosmonaut did n’t get their preferences , Kloeris heard about it . “ With the ISS , we relied on cargo flights to get nutrient to orbit , ” she say . “ We were n’t always able to get containers there at the right time for each work party member to eat food they selected . The load flight may have gotten delay . So for part of the prison term in orbit , they ’re deplete food out of container with someone else ’s name on them that were pull up stakes over from a old gang appendage . It became a Brobdingnagian psychological issue . We had so many complaints . ‘ You promised me I was go to get what I asked for . I had to eat someone else ’s nutrient ! ’ ”
One of Kloeris ’s most memorable requests was from an spaceman who was sate out their choose computer menu for 14 days , the length of his Shuttle delegation . One of the most popular token since the 1960s has been shrimp cocktail , which consists of frost - dry peewee and pulverized cocktail sauce . No less an authority thanBuzz Aldrindeclared the token “ delightful . ”
This astronaut checked the shrimp cocktail box for each day . And not just once . “ He had peewee cocktail for breakfast , lunch , and dinner , ” Kloeris says . “ And he did that for more than one delegacy . ”
But We Digest
Save for cheesecake , almost anything terrestrial can be repurposed for space consumption . While some astronauts have complained of a loss of appreciation in infinite , that ’s never been scientifically proven to occur . It may alternatively have something to do with fluid shifts cause nasal over-crowding , Kloeris say . Given enough time to acclimate and enough ketchup or hot sauce to ramp up the flavor , the problem should go away .
Kloeris , who recently retired from NASA after 34 twelvemonth in the food lab , says that current repast preparation is n’t much different from those former missions , even if the food itself has gotten quite a bit more appetising . Thanks to shelf - stable dough , pizza is potential . So is beef that ’s been irradiated to pour down bacteria . In the future , Kloeris ’s heir will have to devise shipway to design card item that are safe as well as toothsome for the five to seven yr it would take toget to Mars and back .
It ’s certainly possible . Of those two - decade - old canned goods find in the food laboratory office in 1987 , some went to the Smithsonian for descendants ’s sake . As for the single Kloeris and her co - workers taste ? “ We tasted each and every one , ” she says . “ They tasted finely . ”
