food its preparation storage and use in
space travel has changed along with
advances in spaceflight technology today
astronauts prepare and eat food much the
same way we do here on earth the biggest
difference is that their food is
packaged so it can be eaten at zero
gravity shuttle astronaut Joe Allen
wrote about life aboard the shuttle the
astronauts who now enter space where
sport shirts and slacks during their
days in orbit they eat shrimp cocktail
and barbecued beef and sleep in private
bunks the Spartan era of space travel
has ended the Spartan era Allen refers
to began with the manned flights of the
Mercury program the first food for
American space travel was carried aboard
John Glenn's historic five-hour flight
in 1962 food for the mercury flights had
to be easy to prepare and eat by the
astronaut dressed in a restrictive
pressure suit and strapped inside the
capsule food was packaged in tubes
freeze-dried pouches and bite sized
cubes and was not very appetizing the
Gemini missions beginning in 1965
brought an improved food concept food
tubes were replaced by simple
lightweight plastic containers
astronauts could choose from an expanded
menu chunks of food were coated with
gelatin to reduce crumbling in zero
gravity and rehydrate able food was
placed in containers which were easier
to inject with water the three men crews
of the Apollo era enjoyed greater menu
selections and for the first time made
use of hot water astronauts could now
enjoy hot food and drinks foil pouches
for meats and sauces and spoon Bowl
packages for rehydrate abels were also
introduced in 1973 Skylab became our
major space effort the orbiting
laboratory housed three astronauts for
up to three months the food system was
luxurious even by today's standards the
separate dining area boasted a table
complete with food
warming trays for all three astronauts
to enjoy dining together the dietitian
for technology incorporated in Houston
Texas Connie stadler planet Skylab flew
the whole entire food system within can
and we had frozen food at that time
because there was a lot of storage space
on Skylab they were going to be up there
for such a long period of time that they
thought the food system was very
important and so during that time they
had three frozen foods allotted to them
every two day period and they could have
ice cream or steak or roast beef we had
at that time now there's no
refrigeration and no freezer so we're
back to the rehydrate about food system
but the packages are different in 1975
international efforts in space resulted
in the apollo-soyuz mission the American
and Russian ships docked in Earth orbit
cosmonauts and astronauts shared space
foods including borscht served in a tube
at present astronauts on the space
shuttle use a new flexible food system
complete with galley the gaui an upright
modular unit located on the mid-deck
serves as a food processing facility it
houses a low temperature oven a hot and
cold water dispenser a pantry and a
personal hygiene station a crew of two
to seven people can be served for up to
one month over 70 food items and 20
beverages are featured in the six-day
rotational space shuttle menu drinks and
freeze-dried meals selections are
packaged in polyethylene dishes and can
be hydrated with pre-selected amounts of
hot or cold water canned foods foods and
flexible pouches and fresh fruits and
vegetables are also available
all food has to pass strict shelf-life
standards as well as show minimum
microbial counts much of the food used
aboard the shuttle is bought
commercially and then repackaged and
serialized at technology incorporated
Houston Texas on occasion food is
processed in house like this patch of
color flower which will be freeze-dried
this processing is done only if
commercial product quality is below
standard or not available fresh foods
are packed within 24 hours of liftoff
food for space as missions become longer
the challenge of the next decade will be
to provide a food system which will
support the needs of a permanently
manned space station