Space Food

As mission lengths increase from several months on the International Space Station to perhaps years on a mission to another planet, what food is packed and the way it is packaged will become extremely vital to the success of future missions, as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discovered:

A variety of tastes and textures is on the menu

As the body adapts to weightlessness, many physiological changes can affect nutrition or be affected by it, including loss of bone and muscle, and changes in heart and blood vessel function. Consuming enough nutrients may not stop these changes, but consuming too few nutrients may make the situation worse. By eating enough calories, astronauts will also be consuming enough of most nutrients, including vitamins and minerals.

But just as important as nutrition is variety.

Astronauts could always opt for a vanilla, strawberry or chocolate meal replacement drink. But who wouldn’t want an actual meal and tasty beverage when there are over 200 different types from which to choose, such as:

Appetizers - Warmed Pouches of Savory Shrimp Cocktail

Soups - Tubes of Borscht Soup

Beverages: Chinese herbal tea | Freeze dried drink mixes (coffee or tea) | Flavored Drinks (lemonade or orange drink)

Entrees - Irradiated Beef Fajitas |Chicken Teriyaki | Buckwheat Gruel | Seafood | Hamburgers | Sushi | Rehydratable Japanese Ramen | Yuxiang Pork | Kung Pao Chicken | Jellied Pike | Goulash with Buckwheat | Kimchi

Desserts - The dessert menu, which would satisfy any astronaut’s sweet tooth, offers up such treats as:

Shelf-Stable Cherry-Blueberry Cobbler | Plum-Cherry Cobbler | Honey Cake | Berry Medley | Bread Pudding | Apples with Black Currant Juice | Yokan | Cookies | Granola Bars

…and of course, Chocolate Breakfast Drink!

For a quick history of space food, Tested.com interviewed Vicki Kloeris of NASA’s Space Food Systems Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center:

As you can see, space food has come a long way since the days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

Preserving food in space

The International Space Station food system currently uses several types of food, including thermostabilized, rehydratable, natural form, and irradiated. But as we embark on a journey back to the Moon and on to Mars, we’ll need to think of ways to preserve more food for longer periods of time.

One way is a sterilization process that relies more on pressure than temperature. Food tastes fresher and lasts longer because it is subjected to high heat for much less time. Packaging materials with more sufficient barrier properties for oxygen and water to maintain shelf life will also be important in preserving food for the long haul.

Growing food in space

In the future, two different food systems will have to be implemented for long-duration missions:

…one for traveling to and from the distant body and one for use on the surface of the Moon or planet. The transit food system will be similar to the ISS food system with the exception that products with three- to five-year shelf lives will be needed, especially for a mission to Mars. So, this part of the trip will be similar to what occurs aboard space missions now – eating out of food packages and heating food items in a similar fashion.

But the surface food system will be such that, once crew members arrive at their destination, they will have to build hydroponic labs in which to grow vegetables, providing them with added nutrition and variety. According to the Johnson Space Center:

Possible crops that could be grown and harvested include potatoes (sweet and white), soybeans, wheat, peanuts, dried beans, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, radishes, cabbage and rice. Once the crops are processed into edible ingredients, cooking will be done in the spacecraft’s galley to make the food items.

To learn more about cosmic cuisine, listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s interview with Dr. Charles Bourland (NASA consultant and author of “The Astronaut’s Cookbook”) and Chef Brian Ray.