Apropos of Nothing: Space Food

Happy (54th) Moon Landing Anniversary

Happy (54th) Moon Landing Anniversary! 

In honor of seizing the day, we’re gifting a complimentary download of our Moon Workbook III to our subscribers (scroll to the bottom to access).

And while Moon Lists is decidedly not about the moon cycles, or space…I can’t help but take a moment to recap some long-held findings (and feelings) on astronaut food…

Early astronaut fare, served in tube form

“Within about twenty minutes after he had soared aloft, Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. apparently had his first snack in space.” 

In the inaugural days of space travel, developing food for space posed a larger than expected problem, as even a rogue crumb held the potential threat of clogging air vents or contaminating equipment on board.

Early on, the solution was to package food either in aluminum tubes or as bite-sized, gelatin-coated mystery cubes. Astronauts were not pleased. “Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and they disliked squeezing the tubes,” according to one NASA account.

For the curi…