10 interesting facts about astronauts' food

Referring to the space science industry, many people will immediately think of the increasingly modern space ships, new satellites or famous astronauts . but few are interested in what people will eat. when out of space? Surely we can't bring fresh food up there for processing and cooking like on the ground.

Therefore, to ensure the health and nutrition of astronauts, sometimes working outside the Earth for years, is a difficult problem for scientists. But with the development and continuous efforts, notably NASA, the menu of astronauts is increasingly improved, enabling them to live and work better when living outside the Earth. Here are the actual discoveries about the types of food used in outer space, you may find them quite interesting.

10. Food for astronauts at the beginning

The food for the astronauts from the beginning looked really weird.

Yuri Gagarin was the first to travel out into space and he was the first to eat and work out there. What he ate was stored in a tube like a toothpaste, his lunch consisted of a liquid mixture and chocolate sauce. When the first Americans flew into space, they also ate food in small tubes, both in powder and liquid form (actually no one liked to eat these foods), and they realized that Eating these reserve foods is not pleasant at all.

9. Can normal food be used in the universe?

Ordinary food has been used by astronauts today.

Finally, the time to eat food in the tube was overthrown, now, the menu for the astronauts has improved a lot, including more to satisfy the need for human enjoyment. After the Gemini project in 1965, frozen-style drying methods were developed, luxury items such as shrimp, toast, chicken, fresh vegetables, pudding were provided. The astronauts even took sneaky sandwiches on board to eat, even though they were later reprimanded for leaving floating debris in the ship. In the Appollo mission (68-75), hot water was brought up, and on the Skylab Space Station (73-74) a refrigerator and a freezer appeared, allowing items to be damaged. Today, foods to be eaten are usually edible on spacecraft, such as pasta, fruits and other popular foods on the ground.

8. Orange juice

Funerals are used in space to ease unpleasant odors in drinking water on board.

Tang is a popular brand, not only used underground, it also provides astronauts on the spacecraft. In fact, the Tang was chosen completely by accident, but the reason it was chosen for use in outer space was because the water on the spacecraft tasted very bad (due to a chemical reaction of water to the support system). Supporting life on the ship) and adding the aroma of orange makes the taste of water much more pleasant.

7. Dried meat

A kind of food that is quite suitable for the environment is dry beef with mobility, long preservation and especially very high nutritional content. A Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang also brought dry deer and dry reindeer meat to celebrate Christmas on the universe.

6. Classify food groups

There are many different types of food used in the universe.

They are: drinks, fresh food (only for 2 days), irradiated meat (to prevent food from being spoiled), natural foods (such as nuts, cookies .), food that is given to her out of water and dehydrated food (food is dehydrated to remove harmful microorganisms and enzymes). It must be added that these are very special ways of preservation to be suitable for long-term flights in space.

5. Package

Food must be packed according to a certain cycle.

Cosmic food must be packaged in a strict strict process. In addition to the basic criteria, the packaging of these foods must be light, easy to decompose and convenient to use (as well as there must be instructions for use, bar codes to be convenient to monitor the diet of the home travel). The reason for this is because the space on the spacecraft is limited and moreover, every volume put on board is fuel-consuming. So the weight on board should be minimized as much as possible.

4. How is food on board prepared?

Food must be nutritious, easy to digest and delicious. In addition, the dish must meet the characteristics of the weightless environment. Therefore, they should be light, carefully sealed and can be easily prepared and cleaned after use.

3. Diversifying cosmic food

The space science industry is growing, the astronaut's menu does not stop at the level of adequate nutrition. Astronauts can bring into the space the traditional dishes of their country. For example, when the Chinese made their first space trip in 2003, astronaut Yang Liwei brought Yuxiang pork, Kung Pao chicken, rice and herbal tea. Japanese people bring sushi, ramen . to meet their demand for food. Meanwhile, Russians have Borsch (red beet soup) and ga-ru, curd and nuts.

2. In a weightless environment, how do people swallow?

In fact, you absolutely can swallow food in a weightless environment.

This is what John Glenn worried about when he made his space trip in 1962. But all concerns were released immediately because he could eat and drink normally in this environment. The swallowing process is supported by a peristalisis in the esophagus, the contraction and the tonicity of the throat muscles are responsible for leading food into the stomach rather than by gravity.

1. Non-gravity environment

The lack of gravity greatly affects the senses and digestion of humans, especially hearing and taste. This process changes the taste, the spice of the food becomes more aggressive. In addition, when drinking carbonated drinks, water and gas are often separated in the stomach, and lead to heartburn. To overcome this, carbonated beverage manufacturers, in particular Coke / Pepsi, have improved and introduced drinks suitable for zero gravity environments, making astronauts feel Tastes as in normal environments.