Space food: From creation to consumption

Did you know that tortillas have been a staple aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since 1985? Besides being delicious, tortillas produce fewer crumbs that could float around the station in microgravity compared to bread and other baked goods.

Space food has to be high quality and appetizing for astronauts, which can be a challenge considering their taste buds can change while in orbit due to fluid shifts from weightlessness. The food must also be fairly nonperishable as well as safe and easy to prepare and eat inside the spacecraft where there are limited heating options.

Learn about how space food is created, tested, packaged, delivered and consumed in this blog post.

Creating space food

At the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Space Food Systems Laboratory, food scientists examine a variety of factors to develop space food. Nutrition plays a key role, but flavor, shelf life, and ease of cooking and consumption must all be evaluated.

Scientists develop recipes and sample meals in a test kitchen inside the lab. Some of their equipment includes freeze driers, a 40-gallon steam jacketed kettle, a double convection oven, a six-burner stovetop, a vertical chamber sealer, a canner, and a standing mixer. Once an item has been developed, it is taste tested in a sensory lab to judge flavor.

March 2, 2015 – A food scientist with the JSC Space Food Systems Laboratory cooks with fresh vegetables.

Testing space food

ISS crew members taste or sample food items and rate them based upon how well they like them. Then while training in Russia, they repeat the procedure for the Russian food items.

U.S. and Russian dietitians use those ratings to plan menus for each Expedition crew.

Once the menu is compiled, the crews attend a training session in Russia to try the actual menu. The crew makes its final changes, and the menu is finalized before it is packaged.

Eating space food

Space station crew members usually eat breakfast and dinner together. The food preparation area in the Russian Zvezda service module is used to prepare meals.

Once the astronauts are ready for a meal, they rehydrate the food if necessary by adding the required amount of water. The food preparation area contains a fold-down table with built-in food warmers to heat Russian cans and packages. Since the U.S. foods will not fit into the slots in the table, a suitcase-like food warmer is used for food that needs to be heated.

Used packaging is bagged and placed in a Progress vehicle, which is eventually jettisoned and burns up upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

June 3, 2013 – Astronaut Karen Nyberg,Expedition 36 flight engineer,is photographed with food and drink packets while in the Node 1 module.

Space food spinoffs

Food technology spinoffs benefit dining rooms throughout the world. NASA licenses dozens of space-age technologies and connects with the private sector through business-to-business partnerships for the creation of products that improve lives here on Earth. Advancements in food packaging, preservation, preparation and nutrition to meet the challenges of space resulted in many commercial products.

For example, a metallic film first used as a signal-bouncing reflective coating for the Echo 1 communications satellite made way for packaging and protecting food while reducing packaging manufacturers’ costs. The insulation barrier of aluminum-like material laid over a core of Mylar has also insulated and protected components of a number of other spacecraft.

Today the metallic material, sandwiched between layers of plastic, has found its way into a wide variety of food packaging on Earth. Its reflective properties offer insulation and product protection for long periods and is less expensive and more easily machined than aluminum foil.

Deep space missions

NASA’s Advanced Food Technology Project focuses on reducing the mass, volume, and waste of the entire integrated food system to be used during exploration missions. The researchers investigate methods to extend the shelf life and acceptability of food items to as long as five years. Researchers are also actively exploring bioregenerative solutions such as grown vegetables as a component of the overall food system.