Eating is one of life ’s most important body process , and the same applies in space . Every astronaut eats three times a day , and yesterday for lunch , Adam and I had space food . It was awesome .
So how did everything taste ? On the whole , surprisingly undecomposed ! But before we delve into our elaborated taste test , a word about what we were eating . I spoke to Vickie Kloeris , the Subsystem Manager for Shuttle and ISS Food Systems — NASA ’s head chef — and she walk me through exactly what live into the vittles consume in reach by our astronauts .
Essentially , NASA does exactly what the army does with its MREs ( Meals Ready to Eat ) , with a few exceptions : MREs are designed to keep an 18- to 22 - yr - older , extremely fighting soldier fueled and ready , whereas space solid food must be nutritionally tailored to sr. and less - active adult , so in universal , quad food is low in fat , kilogram calorie and saltiness .
For space intellectual nourishment , the chief criteria are spoiling resistance , soft preparation and intake in microgravity ( ie no potato chip ) , plus storage - space considerateness . There are five classifications of space foods : rehydrateable ( just sum body of water ) , thermostabilized ( already blind drunk , heat in its metal / credit card pouch and eat ) , irradiated ( cook irradiated pith quick to eat on ) , intermediate moisture ( think dried fruits , jerky , and such ) and natural conformation ( better make out as rubble food — quick to deplete without any prep or storage business concern ) .
On the Space Station , there is a food preparation area in the Russian half that has a fold - down dining board along with food packet heaters . But before long , as the post is expanded to oblige a crew of six later this month , a second , small food prep area will be add together — this time equipped with a chiller , which is a first for the station — refrigeration specifically for food products . Cold drinks in space !
Vickie was kind enough to ship out a mountain of delicacy that did n’t make it into orbit from the last ISS commission , and we dine on them for dejeuner . We did n’t have a specialised thermostabilized sac hummer — and you ca n’t microwave these puppies — so we just dunked them in simmering water for a while until they heated through . We made it through six courses include sweet :
Here , our menu in detail :
First track : Southwestern Corn , Potato Medley
While it may have looked a little rough in the thermostabilized packet , corn was actually pretty tasty , and had the correct consistency . The Southwest was apparently represented by flecks of flushed and green pepper and a mild spiciness .
But the potato medley — oh the potato medley . Do n’t have it off what to say — there was a really strange chemical substance acrimony , from where it came I do not know . But not good .
Rating : Two maven
Second Course : Breakfast blimp golf links , Curry Sauce w/ Vegetables
Awesome . Fingering pork barrel sausage links inside a package is not extremely pleasant , permit me tell you , but out of the packet they were utterly edible — fairly salty and a little stringy and dry , but with good tasting . And dip in the curry sauce ? Yes . Sausages and currygo incredibly well together here on ground , and in infinite it ’s no different .
military rank : Four Stars
Third trend : Beef Enchiladas , Baked Beans , Tortillas
Wow . Delicious . As the busted enchiladas slid out of the package , we were scared . But the relish was in good order on — equal to if not better than any flash-frozen enchilada you may get at the store . And the baked beans — oh my — Adam had three helpings . Taste was great , body perfect — and wrap up in a tortilla , which Kloeris says is one of the most versatile space food ( graspable ) , the combination was marvellous . I could fire my spacewalks with this combo for months .
valuation : Five Stars
quaternary Course : Chicken Teriyaki , Creamed Spinach
Yikes . As you see in the video , the poulet teriyaki was nasty . I do n’t know if we got a bad pouch or what , but the chicken was mushy to the point of being scarcely recognizable as wimp . And the olfactory sensation . Oh the smell . Not trusted what went wrong here , but this was more akin to dog food than teriyaki . AVOID !
As for the creamed spinach , that was our only halt - dry out intellectual nourishment detail . In blank , you would employ the pocket-sized tube opening to inject spicy water with a syringe and smush it around in the parcel until it was done , but we reconstituted it in a bowl , and it come out alright . Kind of bland , but eatable . We did n’t spend long on it though because we wanted that Gallus gallus teriyaki out of our spate as presently as potential .
Rating : Zero Stars
Fifth Course : Chicken w/ Peanut Sauce , Green Beans w/ Potatoes
Definitely an betterment . The volaille here was in more recognisable texture and shape , and the peanut vine sauce , while not particularly delicious , was certainly more edible than the teriyaki sauce . And the light-green beans and tater were pretty much the same as your typical canned fare , so not forged at all .
Rating : Three lead
Dessert : Brownies , Cocoa , Kona Coffee
The brownies were fundamentally Little Debbie brownies — in fact , they may have been exactly that , as NASA does purchase off - the - shelf bite to send up after they ’re evaluated and repackaged . And the drinks were essentially the same as their earthly equivalents — only in space , you rehydrate with the same syringe - in - bag technique . Both were tasty .
You may be surprised to see no freeze - dried ice cream here for afters — the item most ordinarily associated with “ blank food . ” Well , that ’s because actual freezing - dried ice ointment was only deplete on one Apollo mission — its spirit is just too unlike glass pick to be enjoyed , and its excessive friability made it specially difficult to eat and clean up in microgravity . Thus , its relegation to museum gift shops and novelty store everywhere .
So in conclusion , I ’d say our tiffin was highly pleasurable . We move through what every astronaut does before their missions — a sampling of the available food to see what they like . If Adam and I were going up , you may guess our containers would be full of beef enchiladas , parched attic , blimp and curry sauce , and there would n’t be any volaille teriyaki in ken .
Now I want to try out everything on the menu :
FoodLunchNASASpaceSpace Shuttle
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