Space lunch: what feeds NASA

From the translator: click here to view the full article. Here only photos and comments to them.


Joint meal in zero gravity. The food, so as not to fly away, is attached with velcro and rubber bands. On the ISS, astronauts eat on a folding table. But what exactly are they eating?


In our time, the diet of the inhabitants of the ISS includes a completely ordinary meal and such additives as mayonnaise, mustard, chili sauce and wasabi. They are needed to compensate for the lack of taste in weightless conditions. You must admit that over the past 50 years, the astronauts food has changed a lot.


In the era of the space programs "Mercury" and "Gemini" (1961 - 1969) food was stored in aluminum tubes, like toothpaste, and gelatin cubes, which, according to NASA reports, "almost no one liked."
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But what the Apollo program participants ate (1968 - 1972). Three thin sachets are the famous “tableware for eating with a spoon.” * Finally, you could refuse tubes. The astronauts diluted and heated the food with hot water from a water gun, and then ate it using ordinary spoons. The food did not fly around the ship, as many were afraid, but stuck to the spoon. [* From the translator: in English. spoon-bowl. Of course, this is not the dishes in the literal sense. The whole procedure was the following: hot water was poured into the bag, the top was cut off and eaten with an ordinary spoon, which is much nicer than pressing the mashed potatoes from a tube.]


Food and drinks aboard the Skylab (1973 - 1979). There was a fridge at the station, so you could eat almost like at home. Products were thawed and reheated. The stock of food for three astronauts was enough for 112 days.


Water-thinned food, the Space Shuttle program (1981-1989). For the first time in space - "emendemki." Today, they (NASA calls them simply “glazed chocolate”) have become a familiar component of the space diet. Please note: cutlery is held on a tray by magnets.


Nutritionists at the Johnson Space Center (Houston) are carefully examining the astronaut diet. Before getting to the ISS, the dish must be tested on Earth.


There is no refrigerator onboard the ISS, so the food, in order not to deteriorate, is subjected to heat treatment, lyophilized (freezing + sublimation of the solvent) and placed in a vacuum package.


Processed foods are ready for takeoff. Lyophilization preserves the taste of foods and nutrients, and also prevents biodegradation.


Virginia, July 2014. A rocket with supplies takes off from the Wallops space center. On board - almost one and a half tons of payload for the ISS, including hardware, spare parts and food.


The food is diluted with water on the ISS. The amount of water at the station is limited, it is saved by an extensive processing system: water is extracted even from air and urine.