QUICK FACTS

Astronauts living in space do many of the same things they would do on Earth. They eat, sleep, work, wash, and have fun, just as we do on earth. Of course, they can’t drive to the nearest video store to rent a movie, or go outside and bike around the block. But life in space is still a lot like life on earth, some things just have to be done differently.

Astronauts have to be careful eating in the Space Shuttle, because their food can float away. Sticky foods are the best, and crumbly food isn’t sent to space (can you imagine crumbs floating around in the Shuttle? It would be like being in a dust storm all the time!). Many foods have the water removed (called dehydration) so they weigh less and take up less room. Before eating, the astronauts add water and squish the food and water around in a plastic bag so it is not too dry to eat. Astronauts can add hot water for hot food, but there is no refrigerator on the Shuttle, so no cold drinks.

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DID YOU KNOW?
Everett Washington, age 11, of Birmingham, Alabama writes to astronaut Rick Linnehan:

If you spill something in space, how do you clean it up and keep the shuttle clean? Do you vacuum the spill out of the air? If it was food, would you still eat it?

Rick Linnehan replies:

[Note: Due to comm breakup, part of Linnehan's response is missing]

[In space, if you] spill something, it doesn't fall, it just [floats there, so you can] just pick right up again and don't worry about it. However, if you're drinking something and it manages to get away from you, you'd want to try and get it out of the air before it hit a wall or the ceiling or whatever, so it doesn't make a mess. And if it was food, a lot... I'm watching one of my [crewmates eat his breakfast] and he's [comm breakup] ...with a fork, using it as a tennis racket. So you can have a lot of fun eating your breakfast and as long as you don't manage to get food on the equipment and things like that you don't make a mess.

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Adam Zivitz of Hatboro, Pennsylvania asks Story Musgrave: I was looking over your menu for the flight and I notice you are eating the same meals for days 2 thru 16 and I was wondering why? Didn't they have anything else you wanted or has experience taught you that some food items taste better then others?

Story Musgrave replies:

They've got a huge number of items in the menu, Adam. There are some things that I like in particular. I like the shrimp cocktail because... I don't think your taste is quite as
good because the fluid shift into your head may make you a little stuffy up here. Your taste, your appetite does change a little bit, so I've learned from experience what I like. But I've also learned from experience that, as we do up here after a meal or a day or two, there's all kinds of leftovers that other people have not eaten, so that gives me plenty of diversity in my menu.

Commander Cockrell adds: We've also noticed that Story tends to graze among our food, so he does have a more varied menu than his own menu might suggest!

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Mike Baker enjoys a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the flight deck during STS-43.

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Typical Supper Menu on the Space Shuttle

Grilled Chicken (T)
Asparagus (R)
Pineapple (T)
Banana Pudding (T)
Cashews (NF)
Tropical Punch w/A/S (B) X2

SPACE FOOD
The food that NASA's early astronauts had to eat in space is a testament to their fortitude. John Glenn, America's first man to eat anything in the nearweightless environment of Earth orbit, found the task of eating fairly easy, but found the menu to be limited. Other Mercury astronauts had to endure bite-sized cubes, freezedried powders, and semiliquids stuffed in aluminum tubes. Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and disliked squeezing the tubes. Moreover, freeze-dried foods were hard to rehydrate and crumbs had to be prevented from fouling instruments.

The astronauts complained and on the Gemini missions eating improved somewhat. The first things to go were the squeeze tubes. Bite-sized cubes were coated with gelatin to reduce crumbling, and the freeze-dried foods were encased in a special plastic container to make reconstituting easier. With improved packaging came improved food quality and menus. Gemini astronauts had such food choices as shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, butterscotch pudding, and apple sauce, and were able to select meal combinations themselves.

By the time of the Apollo program, the quality and variety of food increased even further. Apollo astronauts were first to have hot water, which made rehydrating foods easier and improved the food's taste. These astronauts were also the first to use the "spoon bowl," a plastic container that could be opened and its contents eaten with a spoon .

The task of eating in space got a big boost in Skylab. Unlike previous space vehicles for astronauts, Skylab featured a large interior area where space was available for a dining room and table. Eating for Skylab's threemember teams was a fairly normal operation: footholds allowed them to situate themselves around the table and "sit" to eat. Added to the conventional knife, fork, and spoon was a pair of scissors for cutting open plastic seals. Because Skylab was relatively large and had ample storage area, it could feature an extensive menu: 72 different food items. It also had a freezer and refrigerator, a convenience no other vehicle offered.

The Shuttle Food System.
The kinds of foods the Space Shuttle astronauts eat are not mysterious concoctions, but foods prepared here on Earth, many commercially available on grocery store shelves. Diets are designed to supply each Shuttle crew member with all the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of vitamins and minerals necessary to perform in the environment of space. Caloric requirements are determined by the National Research Council formula for basal energy expenditure (BEE). For women, BEE = 655 + (9.6 x W) + (1.7 x H) - (4.7 x A), and for men, BEE = 66 + (13.7 x W) + (5 x H) - (6.8 x A), where W = weight in kilograms, H = height in centimeters, and A = age in years.

Shuttle astronauts have an astonishing array of food items to choose from. They may eat from a standard menu designed around a typical Shuttle mission of 7 days, or may substitute items to accommodate their own tastes. Astronauts may even design their own menus. But those astronaut-designed menus must be checked by a dietitian to ensure the astronauts consume a balanced supply of nutrients. The standard Shuttle menu repeats after 7 days. It supplies each crew member with three balanced meals, plus snacks. Each astronaut's food is stored aboard the Shuttle and is identified by a colored dot affixed to each package.

Food Preparation. On the Space Shuttle, food is prepared at a galley installed on the orbiter's mid-deck. The galley is a modular unit that contains a water dispenser and an oven. The water dispenser is used for rehydrating foods, and the galley oven is for warming foods to the proper serving temperature.

Almost Like Eating At Home. During a typical meal in space, a meal tray is used to hold the food containers. The tray can be attached to an astronaut's lap by a strap or attached to a wall. The meal tray becomes the astronaut's dinner plate and enables him or her to choose from several foods at once, just like a meal at home. Without the tray, the contents of one container must be completely consumed before open food packages in place and keeps them from floating away in the microgravity of space.

Conventional eating utensils are used in space. Astronauts use knife, fork, and spoon. The only unusual eating utensil is a pair of scissors used for cutting open the packages. Following the meal, food containers are discarded in the trash compartment below the mid-deck floor. Eating utensils and food trays are cleaned at the hygiene station with premoistened towelettes.

Crews have reported that the Shuttle food system functions well in space. It consists of familiar, appetizing, well-accepted food items that can be prepared quickly and easily. A full meal for a crew of four can be set up in about 5 minutes. Reconstituting and heating the food takes an additional 20 to 30 minutesabout the time it takes to fix a snack at home, and far less than it takes to cook a complete meal.

Pantry. A supplementary food supply that provides approximately 2100 Kilocalories per person for two extra days is stowed aboard the Shuttle for each flight. Pantry items are flown in addition to the menu in case the flight is unexpectedly extended because of bad weather at the landing site or some other unforeseen reason. During the flight, this food supply provides extra beverages and snacks. The pantry items also can be exchanged for menu items in flight, but all unused food packages are retained in the pantry so they will be available in case they are needed later.