What kind of food do astronauts eat?

Astronuc

from CHANGES IN SPACE FOOD OVER THE LAST 45 YEARS

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/ca...2006250584.pdf

nismaratwork

Is the lack of smell more distinct in micro-gravity than it is in an airplane at altitutde? The latter also compensates by over-spicing by ground standards... maybe it's just a function of living in a pressure vessel...

Jimmy Snyder

They eat at Planet Hollywood. The menu includes astro surf and turf, venus clams, and Capricorn. They wash it down with a vodka sunrise. Also, they eat lots of candy, Mars Bars, Milky Way bars, Moon Pies. Also Tang.

nismaratwork

You're going to the 'bad place' for that, and I am too for laughing.

Venus Clams... that's out of the park man.

hypatia

mmmm Moon pies!

nismaratwork

What I find so amazing, is that the freeze-dried ice cream of many a science museaum gift-shop fame... is NOT eaten (at least, not now). Too powdery, and apparantly not very popular withe 'naughts.

@Hypatia: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/southe...es/Detail.aspx

They are... oh... they're very good.

physics girl phd

Doesn't, however, keep the kids from wanting it from the gift shops (or, admittedly, even me, from my own fond gift shop memories).

Mmm... Tang. More nostalgia there.

Gokul43201

I think that's one of those things that lost popularity with the space crowd and found use elsewhere. In this case, I believe it became pretty popular with troops stationed in tropical lands. More recently it's been popular among backpackers. You'll find freeze dried ice-cream in most any outdoor gear store. I like to take some along anytime I'm leading a trip with newbie backpackers. Freeze-dried ice cream + water + strawberries makes for a neat dessert after a long day of trudging through hills and woods.

nismaratwork

Oh don't get me wrong, as a kid I thought it was the coolest thing extant, and as you say now, it's a fantastic snack and even addition to trail mix. I hadn't thought to rehydrate it, but I'll have to give that a whirl.

@Physics girl phd: Nor should it, but Tang? Really?! I never could stand powdered drink mixes of any kind... yet I like slushies... clearly it's a matter of what we have as kids, and no virtue of taste.

Jimmy Snyder

Of course, the biggest problem in space is not food, but water. What good is all that freeze dried stuff if you can't reconstitute it. However, water adds too much weight to the payload. So they use powdered water. It's a two step process. First you reconstitute the water, then the ice cream. You don't want to know how they reconstitute the water though.

nismaratwork

...Sorry, I was just 'taking the dog for a walk'... what were saying about water?

jtbell

Does anybody else remember those TV commercials for Tang, "the breakfast drink of astronauts?"

nismaratwork

You're not going to like the answer...

...yes... in shows about 'old commercials'.

Still, it almost makes me want to try Tang again, despite the fact I don't believe my tongue or olfactory bulb recovered by my first try.

physics girl phd

Truly haven't tasted the stuff in years, and I'm sure I'd dislike it... but I remember my sister drinking at least two glasses a day. Surely there's not a bit of goodness nutrition-wise in it, except perhaps vitamin C.