Early Development of Space Dining
As the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn was also the first to perform experiments in space dining. Glenn’s mission took almost five hours to circle the globe three times and did not require a meal, but future flights would be much longer and would need food appropriate to space travel. Glenn discovered that weightlessness did not interfere with swallowing food as many experts had worried; once the food reached the mouth there were no problems. Mercury astronauts who came later experimented with bite-sized cubes, foods that were freeze dried, and those that were eaten from aluminum containers similar to toothpaste tubes. Early problems were encountered with unappetizing fare, annoying tube- squeezing, and escaped crumbs from the bite-sized cubes posing a hazard to instruments.
By the time of the Gemini program the food and the delivery system had been improved. Available menus could span four days before repeating meals. Shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, toast squares, butterscotch pudding, and apple juice comprised a typical meal. Astronauts chose their own meal combinations, with the requirement that they provided 2,800 calories each day. A balanced meal was to contain 16 to 17 percent protein, 30 to 32 percent fat, and 50 to 54 percent carbohydrate.
The Apollo astronauts enjoyed a much greater variety of foods, although the food packages were little changed. Heated and chilled water was now available for hot and cold food and beverages, with hot water at a temperature of 154 degrees F and water chilled to 45 degrees F. The Gemini program provided only water at 70 degrees F, the temperature of the spacecraft’s interior. Food was easier to rehydrate and tastier when hot water was used in the preparation.
The Skylab in 1973 and 1974 was used by three teams of astronauts and featured an interior space large enough to accommodate a dining room table, which was made up of a pedestal where trays could be attached. The astronauts used foot and thigh restraints to enable them to “sit down” to eat in the usual way. The Skylab dining experience featured eating utensils magnetically held onto the food tray until used. Scissors were a part of the eating utensils, used to cut the plastic membrane on the food containers. With practiced use of the utensils, the astronauts could keep food in the cans until eaten.
Because it had a larger storage area, Skylab had a more extensive menu of 72 different foods and boasted a freezer and a refrigerator. Food enough to provide 4.2 pounds of food (including the weight of packaging) per day for each astronaut was carried on the flight.
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Mission History, Mission Objectives, The Gear to Get There. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
