You may be familiar with Thomas Pesquet, the most experienced French astronaut. He spent 200 days in space; that must seem like an eternity! Especially if you don’t get to eat your favourite meals. Space food is different from that of Earth. To complete their mission successfully and to gain enough strength, astronauts must follow a particularly nutritious diet onboard the space station. They may have the opportunity to eat in starry skies every day, but their meals are not starred.
At the beginning of the 1960s, space food was generally freeze-dried or reduced to a paste in tubes. In space, astronauts would add hot water to plastic bags which contained their food. This type of packaging is called a ‘spoon-bowl packet’: all you have to do is dive your fork in there! In 1969, in an interview for the newspaper Nutrition Today, astronauts said that space food was tasty and enabled them to ease their hunger and work.
Space meals have changed a lot since then. Nowadays, they are similar to what you eat on Earth. Astronauts receive veggies, desserts, refrigerated food, fruit and dairy products. On the International Space Station (ISS), the modern menu features hundreds of meals. Astronauts can even add condiments, such as ketchup or mustard, to their meals.
An astronaut is someone who travels and works in spacecraft in outer space. The word “astronaut” is used in the English world. While in Russia, they use “cosmonaut” word. In China, they have “taikonauts”.
Science and technology made space food look like what we eat on Earth. Several types of food are sent:
That technique involves freezing products before extracting the water they contain.
Water is extracted from food on Earth. In outer space, astronauts add hot water to that food to eat it.
Food is processed in different ways to avoid contamination and rot, but also to increase their shelf life.
Space food must meet strict criteria: it must be nutritious, lightweight, compact, easy to eat and digest, tasty, healthy, well-packed and quick to prepare.
Space explorers must eat at least 2500 calories a day. Before setting out for the stars, they choose what they would like to eat each day. They have three meals a day and snacks whenever they feel like it.
Gravity is not the same on Earth and in outer space. There, specialists call it ‘microgravity’. It causes many changes in the human body. During long space missions, astronauts can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass and bone density. They do not feel that loss when they are in orbit. But getting back on Earth can be hard: their bones may be so weakened that the risk of fracture increases. Exercise and foods rich in calcium, like yogurt, are key. Because of microgravity, the rate of phosphorus and nitrogen decreases in astronauts. Their food must therefore contain those nutrients in large quantities. To fly their missions, they shouldn’t get sick.
Astronauts can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass and bone density during their journey in space.
Fluids act differently in space. On Earth, the water in our bodies settles down to our feet. In microgravity, fluids are not subject to attraction. It feels like you have an everlasting stuffy nose. Food tastes bland. To improve the taste of their meals, many astronauts eat hot ingredients like chili peppers or wasabi.
Eating in space is not as easy as it seems. In low-gravity conditions, catching peas with your fork is not the only challenge you can face.
Hot meals are cooked in the microwave or in the oven. The ISS is appointed with water stations to rehydrate meals and fill water bags.
In the ISS dining room, astronauts sit at a table on chairs glued to the floor. They can thus enjoy a meal in normal conditions. They strap themselves into the chairs and use cutlery to eat the food from a magnetized tray.
Astronauts mostly drink water. They can also sip flavored drinks. Coffee, tea, lemonade, or orange juice are stored in vacuum-sealed pouches. Astronauts add water to the pouch to enjoy a good beverage.
In space, water flies away from its packaging because of microgravity. You have to use a straw to suck your drink.
In space, bodies are not attracted to the Earth anymore. That’s why astronauts float in the air. We talk about the zero gravity.
So what, did space food make your mouth water?
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