What Astronauts Eat in Space

Eating in space sounds simple until you remember that nothing stays on a plate.

Crumbs drift into equipment, drinks form wobbling spheres and a spilled bag of peas can scatter through an entire spacecraft.

Every meal in orbit has to be planned around those strange rules.

Here you will learn how space food evolved from paste in a tube to something close to home cooking,

what types of food crews actually eat,

why flavors seem weaker up there and how astronauts have even begun growing some of their own greens.

From Squeeze Tubes to Real Meals

In the early 1960s, nobody knew for sure whether people could swallow properly in weightlessness.

The first meals in orbit were purees squeezed from aluminum tubes,

and in 1962 John Glenn became the first American to eat in space, sampling applesauce.

It worked, but nobody considered it dining.

During the Gemini missions, food came as bite-size cubes coated to hold crumbs together, along with freeze-dried dishes rehydrated with water.

Crews found much of it unappetizing. In 1965, astronaut John Young famously smuggled a corned beef sandwich aboard Gemini 3.

It shed crumbs the moment it was unwrapped, a vivid reminder of why loose food was banned.

Apollo crews gained hot water, which made rehydrated meals far more appealing, and packages that could be opened and eaten with a spoon.

The Skylab station in the 1970s went further, with a freezer, a refrigerator and a table where crews could eat together.

Later spacecraft and stations built on those lessons.

The Main Types of Space Food

Space food has to be light, compact, safe to store without refrigeration for long periods and easy to eat without a mess.

It generally falls into a few categories:

• Rehydratable foods: freeze-dried soups, vegetables, casseroles and breakfast cereals that come back to life when water is injected into the package.
• Thermostabilized foods: heat-treated meals sealed in flexible pouches or cans, such as stews, puddings and fruit, similar to military field rations.
• Irradiated meats: some meats are sterilized with radiation so they keep for a long time without spoiling.
• Intermediate-moisture foods: dried fruit and meat jerky, which contain just enough water to stay soft.
• Natural-form foods: nuts, granola bars and cookies, packed in bags that are ready to eat.
• Fresh food: apples, oranges and other treats that arrive on cargo flights and must be eaten within days.

Menus are planned well before launch.

At NASA's space food laboratory in Houston, astronauts taste and rate dozens of items months ahead of their flights.

Crews also pack a limited amount of personal favorites, and on the International Space Station,

partners from different countries have often shared their national dishes at meals.

Why Crumbs and Liquids Are a Problem

In weightlessness, a crumb does not fall to the floor.

It floats until it lodges in an air filter, lands in someone's eye or slips into delicate electronics.

That is why bread has largely been replaced by tortillas, which produce far fewer crumbs and keep much longer.

Astronauts use them to wrap everything from eggs to peanut butter.

Seasoning needs the same care.

Ordinary salt and pepper would drift away, so salt is dissolved in water and pepper is suspended in oil, both in small squeeze bottles.

Ketchup, mustard and hot sauce come in single-serving packets.

Liquids behave just as strangely. Drinks such as coffee, tea, juice and lemonade are packed as powders in pouches,

then water is added and the drink is sipped through a straw with a clamp.

Fizzy drinks are rarely practical, because without gravity the bubbles do not rise and separate from the liquid.

How a Meal Actually Works

A typical station mealtime starts at the galley, a compact food station rather than a kitchen.

Astronauts inject hot or cold water into rehydratable packages and slide pouches into a small food warmer.

There is no stove or microwave oven, and no pots or pans.

Once the food is ready, the packages are attached to a tray or wall with straps and hook-and-loop fasteners, then cut open with scissors.

Thanks to surface tension, moist foods such as stew or pudding cling to the spoon surprisingly well.

Crews often eat together at a table, anchoring themselves with foot loops, and many describe shared meals as an important part of the day.

Why Food Tastes Different in Orbit

Many astronauts report that food tastes bland in space.

One reason is the fluid shift that happens in weightlessness: fluids move toward the head, causing a stuffy,

congested feeling similar to a head cold, which dulls the sense of smell and therefore taste.

Airflow may also play a part. On Earth, warm aromas rise from your plate to your nose.

In orbit, smells do not drift upward on their own, so you get less of a meal's scent.

That helps explain why spicy, tangy and strongly flavored foods, along with generous doses of hot sauce, have long been popular with crews.

Nutrition on a Long Mission

Space food is planned by nutritionists, not just chefs.

Astronauts need enough calories to support demanding workdays and two hours of daily exercise, along with the right balance of vitamins and minerals.

Because crews get no natural sunlight inside the station, vitamin D intake receives special attention.

Nutritionists have also worked to reduce sodium in space meals, since high salt intake is thought to worsen bone loss in weightlessness.

Longer missions raise tougher questions. Some vitamins break down over time, even in sealed packages,

and a crew traveling to Mars would need food that stays nutritious and appealing for years.

Researchers study new packaging, preservation methods and menus with enough variety to keep people eating well when they are tired of the same dishes.

Growing Food in Space

Growing fresh produce could someday reduce what crews must bring from Earth, and it offers a welcome psychological boost.

Using a compact plant growth unit called Veggie,

astronauts on the International Space Station harvested and ate red romaine lettuce in 2015,

the first time a NASA crew ate produce grown on the station.

Later experiments grew leafy greens, radishes and flowers.

In 2021, astronauts harvested chile peppers grown in orbit and used them to make tacos.

Each harvest teaches scientists how plants respond to weightlessness, artificial light and the closed environment of a spacecraft.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can astronauts cook in space?

Not in the usual sense. Meals are mostly heated or rehydrated, not cooked from raw ingredients.

A few experiments have tested special equipment, including an oven that baked chocolate chip cookies on the station in 2019.

Do astronauts really drink recycled water?

Yes. The space station recovers water from cabin humidity, sweat and urine, then purifies it to strict drinking-water standards.

Recycling it spares the station from having to receive heavy loads of fresh water from Earth.

Did astronauts eat the freeze-dried ice cream sold in museum shops?

That crunchy treat is mostly a souvenir and never became a regular item on astronaut menus, largely because it crumbles.

On rare occasions, cargo ships carrying science freezers have delivered real ice cream to the station as a surprise.

Food for the Journey

Space food has come a long way from applesauce in a tube.

Modern space menus balance safety, nutrition and taste while solving problems no earthbound cook ever faces, from floating crumbs to fading flavors.

As missions grow longer and travel farther, what astronauts eat will matter even more,

and the lettuce and peppers already grown in orbit hint at what future crews may harvest on their own.