At Apollo space mission, astronauts ate dehydrated foods that could be reconstituted with water. Additionally, they received snacks and beverages such as pineapple fruitcake, peanut butter cookies and coffee as part of their food allowance.
On Gemini missions, astronauts had to eat bite-size cubes of freeze-dried foods that had to be shoved down tubes; by Apollo missions however, food tasted much better and was more appetising.
Breakfast
Before being launched into space, astronauts typically enjoyed breakfast consisting of bacon squares, peaches and sugar cookies along with pineapple-grapefruit juice and coffee – quite the meal fit for a college student on a tight budget! In reality, NASA was serious about sending humans into space during the 1960s so their meals needed to contain enough calories and nutrition to ensure astronauts would remain healthy and satisfied while travelling through space.
Mercury and later Apollo missions provided astronauts with freeze-dried food stored in aluminum containers, designed to ensure balanced nutrition and calories tailored to each astronaut’s specific needs. Meals consisted of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vegetables and special microwave oven ovens; astronauts could consume it either cold or warm it up in one of several microwave ovens provided – these meals packed full of vitamins and minerals were designed to last months in storage while providing additional treats such as applesauce tubes filled with frozen food; beef potato casserole; tuna salad as well as sugar cookies!
Although these meals were nutritious and tasty enough, they weren’t very satisfying to the astronauts who complained of the lack of flavour and texture in their food. NASA scientists made efforts during Apollo missions to improve these meals by adding additional spices and herbs and developing more convenient ways of packaging and storing them so that astronauts would experience a more varied diet and greater taste experience.
Thanks to an innovative water system on board the Apollo spacecraft, astronauts were also able to enjoy hot meals thanks to a more sophisticated water system. Instead of eating their meals from plastic bags with straws attached for consumption, this made a big difference to them.
Important to remember is that although food on ISS may be more advanced than what was provided during Apollo missions, it still needs to be packed for months of storage and rehydrated upon rehydration. One key difference today’s astronauts can enjoy is reheating it in the microwave oven before eating hot while Apollo astronauts had no other choice but eating cold freeze-dried meals.
Lunch
The 1969 Apollo 11 mission marked a “giant leap for humanity.” Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins successfully set foot on the Moon; yet their spacecraft also contained more than just snacks for them to consume during their stay there.
NASA strived to make meals as appetising and convenient for their crew members as possible, such as with freeze-dried rehydrated foods that they could enjoy either cold or heat up using a water gun. Hot water made rehydrating simpler; its effect produced something closer to real food than eating out of a bag alone. Furthermore, astronauts could utilize spoons instead.
NASA provided astronauts with wetpack foods, which did not require rehydration and more closely resemble traditional packaged meals than their previous offerings. Examples include beef stew, frankfurters, shrimp cocktail, chicken salad, macaroni and cheese casserole, tuna casserole fruit cocktail. Astronauts could eat these from plastic “spoon bowls” while some had more pleasing textures than others (it was important for NASA that their meals didn’t float on top of water, making rehydrating more challenging).
Even though these meals weren’t as fresh, they must have been deeply satisfying to astronauts. A curator from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum suggests that familiar foods provide great comfort during space travel as it helps ease any feeling of isolation in a strange land.
Apollo astronauts were provided with packs of pineapple fruit cake, brownies and chocolate cake to satisfy their sweet tooth. Beyond dessert, however, crew were allowed to sneak packages of apricot bars into their spacesuits using straws or pouches smuggled into them by themself; especially popular during Apollo 15 mission which marked fourth and final US Apollo moon landing; astronauts munched these while working long hours collecting lunar surface materials and they were preserved using special storage boxes that contained sulfate tablets which prevented spoilage of food supplies.
Dinner
As the Apollo space missions neared their conclusion, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared their last meal on the moon – an elaborate spread featuring bacon cut into squares, peaches and sugar cookies with pineapple-grapefruit juice and coffee as their drinks of choice.
NASA provided astronauts during this mission with meals that had been dehydrated and frozen-dried before being sealed into packages – similar to what is served today at the International Space Station – however with recent improvements made by NASA in their freeze-drying process, more delectable meals are now provided to astronauts.
Space food today is far more varied and appetizing than in Apollo era spacecraft, yet astronauts still did not always enjoy gourmet dining experiences. Their meals required being rehydrated with hot water before being eaten with spoons. Each package was labeled with its respective day so if anything went amiss with cabin pressure regulation it would be easy to locate backup meals to consume in an emergency.
Space travelers received both freeze-dried food as well as rehydrated canned meals to supplement the freeze-dried items they could purchase, such as beef stew and pork and potato scallop dishes, with bread rolls and peanut butter, as well as canned fruits such as apricots for dessert. They could also enjoy rehydrated milk shakes served with small pieces of graham cracker.
Astronauts could drink their liquid meals through straws, but most often used spoons as this was more flavorful and the water gun could heat their meals quickly and efficiently.
Future astronauts will have more choices when it comes to meal selection on space flights, from fresh and frozen options, as well as culturally specific dishes. Furthermore, astronauts will be able to heat their meals instead of depending solely on freeze-dried food like those who participated in Apollo mission did.
Snacks
As snacks, astronauts received dry foods such as cookies and dehydrated items which they could reconstitute with hot or cold water, including frozen ice cream cubes that they needed to thaw out before pouring hot water over and massaging until mixed together and eating with a spoon.
Space food today is more sophisticated and delicious than what was offered on Apollo missions, offering over 200 items on a core menu to choose from – they can even bring dishes from their home countries like soup or pasta dishes!
Astronauts on Apollo missions enjoyed numerous sweet treats, from pineapple fruit cake and packs of brownies and chocolate cakes, to cheese crackers, BBQ beef bites, grape punch, juice and sweetened iced coffee and tea beverages. Each day they were allowed six portions of these sweet treats!
On the Apollo 11 flight, they were scheduled to enjoy breakfast of bacon squares and peaches with sugar cookies as well as lunch/dinner consisting of apricot cereal cubes/bananas served together with canned grape juice and orange drink powder (Tang was not available at that time).
Apollo mission astronauts received two or three additional meals totalling 2,800 calories that supplemented their main meal choices. These consisted of freeze-dried food that needed to be reconstituted using a water probe inserted half an ounce at a time, packaged into resealable plastic bags to prevent spillage, and offered bite-size portions so as to minimize crumbs floating about their cabins.
NASA donated this spacefood package of dehydrated foods not used on missions to the Museum sometime during the 1970s or 1980s, along with others of similar type from their space program ranging from soup to iced coffee and tea, all reconstitutable using one water probe; these meals included various ingredients that had to be reconstituted using this water probe and eaten using spoon rather than tube squeezing technology.