Astronaut John H Glenn was the first American to eat in space. At that time, applesauce was also packed in a tube similar to toothpaste. Early experience has proved that space food was not particularly delicious at first, but human beings can eat and swallow in weightlessness without any influence.
During the Gemini program, scientists introduced freeze-dried food, because astronauts need to fly for up to two weeks, and astronauts need to prepare food with spaceship water before eating. During Apollo's landing on the moon, there were more kinds of space food. At that time, astronauts had about 70 items to choose from, including main courses, condiments and drinks. At that time, food had to be freeze-dried and prepackaged.
In addition to more food styles, scientists have also improved some details, including adding hot water to rehydrate some food, or taking food out of the bag directly with a spoon, which feels like eating on the earth. Astronauts have eaten bread sandwiches in space, but the experimental results are not ideal, because the bread is not very fresh when it is delivered, and crumbs will float in the cabin, which may damage sensitive equipment and sometimes even enter the astronauts' eyes or lungs, so it is forbidden to eat bread in space.
There is an episode here that is not in chronological order. 1985165438+1October, during STS-6 1B mission, Mexican astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela loved to eat tortillas, and he asked to put them in his food menu. After entering the orbit, my roommate ... Oh, no, other astronauts noticed that this thing of yours seems delicious ... Oh, no, tortillas are different from ordinary bread, they don't produce crumbs, and can be used to make sandwiches or hold other foods. Since the mission, tortillas have always been the favorite of astronauts, and this tradition has continued to the International Space Station. Now astronauts make breakfast burritos, hamburgers and even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at breakfast.
Time has come to the sky lab era, and the variety of food has not increased much, but American scientists have made a new freezer, which is the first freezer used on the space station. This freezer is like the refrigerator we use. It can store some food. According to astronaut Charles Bourland's memory, scientists have developed many food systems for Sky Lab, in which about 65,438+05% of the food supply will be frozen, and astronauts can taste lobster castles, ice cream and other frozen foods. The remaining food is stored in canned food, which has a long shelf life.
1975 During the Apollo-Soyuz experimental project, American astronauts enjoyed food with Russians for the first time in a two-day docking activity, and American astronauts also tasted Russian space food by the way. At that time, most of the food on the USS Soyuz was packed in pipes. With the beginning of the 198 1 space shuttle era, the space kitchen that provides boiled and heated food makes the astronauts' food more delicious and diverse.
Interestingly, there is a dining table in the middle of the core cabin of the Mir space station. The built-in heating system of this dining table can heat the food in cans and pipes, and astronauts can use the nearby hot and cold water distributor to replenish water for some foods (such as juice and soup). Interestingly, astronauts from other countries also cooked their own specialties. Astronaut Jean-LoupChrétien was the first French citizen to visit the Mir space station. He brought some special foods, such as fried veal, cheese and chocolate. During the planning period, American astronauts living on Mir first ate Russian food, but in the subsequent missions, they also brought American food. Astronaut Andrew S. Thomas appreciates the variety and quality of Russian food very much. He spent five months in the Mir space station, especially praising Russian soup and juice.
In the United States, the space food system laboratory of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston is responsible for testing, preparing and packaging American food to be sent to the International Space Station. Today, there are about 200 different items on the astronaut's menu, and the menu can be customized.
This paper introduces the evolutionary history of astronaut food, and also introduces an interesting thing for everyone. As mentioned just now, America and Russia often exchange food. Before the International Space Station mission, even during the Cold War, astronauts of the two countries would exchange food. With the advent of the International Space Station era, astronauts from other ISS partner agencies from other countries, such as ESA of the European Space Agency, JAXA of the Japan Space Development Agency and CSA of the Canadian Space Agency, have also joined the ranks of eating together. For example, Thomas G. Pesquet, an ESA astronaut from France, brought 13 dishes specially prepared for him by the French Space Agency at that time, but he didn't eat them, and all of them were eaten by American astronauts.
Don't astronauts have any other food sources except the earth's supplies? In fact, there are many foods to choose from. Not at first, but then there was a small preparation device on the International Space Station. Russian astronaut Oleg G. Artemev brought some onions on two long-term missions, and later he planted some in a small preparation device, which can be used as a side dish of the usual staple food. Besides, I forgot to mention that this astronaut is a botanist.
This is very interesting. In fact, whether humans go to Mars or the moon, they need to eat. This is a university question. I'll introduce in detail how the American and Russian food cultures blend in space another day, haha.