Whenever any astronaut goes to space, he is sent with a prescribed amount of food prepared on Earth. Astronauts going to space cannot take anything of their choice with them nor can they eat anything there. Now the question is how much weight of food do astronauts take with them to space and how many days’ worth of food is this. Today we will tell you all the facts related to astronauts and their food.
Food in space
Let us tell you that weight and quantity have always been the primary design factors for every piece of spacecraft going into space. But do you know how much weight of food astronauts take for themselves? Let us tell you that the estimated weight for food in space is limited to 1.72 kg per person per day, which also includes 0.45 kg of packaging weight. Now you must be wondering why there is so much restriction on eating and drinking. Let us tell you that this happens because it requires a special processing and packaging technique for the zero gravity of space.
What kind of food?
The food items going into space are protected from exposure to ionizing radiation. That is why they are packed in pouches with flexible foil pieces. The food consists of dry food items with low moisture. These also include food items like nuts, crunch bars and cookies. They are always packed in flexible plastic pouches and taken to space in their natural form. Apart from this, beverages are taken in powder mix forms, you can just add hot water to make coffee.
Let us tell you that earlier astronauts used to take soft food or baby food in tubes like toothpaste. But for the last few years, the food that astronauts eat in space has been expanded through some new processing techniques. Let us tell you that in 1961-1963, astronauts had to eat cubes, dry powder prepared by freeze technique and semi-liquids packed in aluminum tubes. At the same time, there was some improvement in food during the Gemini Mission (1964-1967). During this time, Gemini astronauts had food options in the form of pudding and apple sauce. At the same time, by the time of the Apollo program, the quality and variety of food items had increased. They started using spoon bowls.
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