Google+ SpaceTravelFoundation: The astronauts' food

April 17, 2013

The astronauts' food

When the Man got away for the first time since the cradle of Earth in the early 1960's, many things unknown about the behavior of the human organism in a new environment. Scientists were, with good reason, extremely cautious.
About nutrition, many scientists thought that the Man could not keep anything in his stomach in weightlessness: the feeling reminds continuous free fall, he will make the astronaut constantly vomit!
When Guerman Titov became the first man in space lunched in the summer of 1961, it seemed that most scientists' fears were unfounded.
A basic menu of foods that could be placed in tightly closed containers to prevent fly around in weightlessness.
Of course, at that time there were so many unknown parameters in spaceflight, the many risks and uncertainties involved, the comfort diet rank very low on the priority list.
On the other hand, as the spaceflight evolved and study the behavior of the period progressed, the ration of the astronauts was the subject of detailed design.
What you ate the astronauts had to be planned properly so that doctors would test pilots after the flight they took to their conclusions.


Imagine that you go camping for more than a week with several friends .. You should be sure that you have plenty of food and all the necessary tools for cooking. Food should be stored properly to avoid their destruction. After each meal or at the end of the tour, you will cringe all your equipment and get rid of all the trash before returning home.
The same basic things astronauts do when they are in space. The preparations vary depending on the type of food. Some foods can be eaten in their natural form, such as cookies and fruit. Other foods require water for cooking, such as spaghetti. Of course, there is provided in oven spacecraft and the Space Station to get food at the proper temperature. But there is no fridge in space missions so the food must be stored and prepared properly to avoid lesions, especially on long missions.
Condiments used as ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Salt and pepper only exist in liquid form. This is because astronauts can not sprinkle salt and pepper on their food, since they would simply float away from food, thereby creating risks clogging vents, contaminate equipment or get in eyes, mouth or nose an astronaut causing irritation.
Astronauts eat three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Nutritionists assert that their diet is balanced in vitamins and minerals. The caloric requirements differ for astronauts. A woman needs only 1900 calories a day, while a large man about 3200. There is great freedom in the choice of foods such as fruits, nuts, peanut butter, chicken, beef, seafood, pastries, etc. As for the drinks, they drink coffee, tea, lemonade, fruit juice and lemonade.

Now let's go the space !

The article has been written by Alexandra Triantapoulou

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