The Food of the Apollo Missions

NASA’s ambitious plan to send astronauts to the moon meant working through all kinds of logistical problems, like how to feed them and what to do about the aftereffects. the first meal eaten in space was applesauce from a squeeze tube during John Glenn’s orbital Mercury flight. As flights got longer, the food got better, but only incrementally. The eight-day Apollo 11 mission meant dozens of meals for three men, dehydrated and vacuum-sealed.  

The pantry of the Apollo spacecraft was jammed with snacks. Along with six portions of pineapple fruit cake, there were packs of brownies, chocolate cake and jellied fruit candy. For the savoury palate, there were cheese crackers and BBQ beef bites. Apollo astronauts were even allocated 15 packs of chewing gum, containing four sticks in each.

A typical dinner during Apollo 17 consisted of a main of chicken and rice, followed by butterscotch pudding and ‘Graham Cracker cubes’. They could wash this all down with instant coffee, tea, cocoa or lemonade.

As you can see from the image above, this was so unappetizing that the astronauts relished microwaved meals during their quarantine back on earth. An article at BBC Future tells of the food developments, smuggled booze, and toilet tricks of the NASA space program. -via Damn Interesting

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Source: neatorama

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