Shuttle Mission
Shuttle Mission
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The Shuttle’s Menu
The primary objective in designing a food system for the Space Shuttle is to provide food that is safe and nutritious, light in weight and compact, and is packaged in a convenient form that allows easy manipulation in the weightless environment of an orbiting spacecraft. To achieve this objective requires a careful consideration of three important factors: biological, operational, and engineering. Under each factor are many constraints that affect the final choice of food and how it is packaged.
The biological factor in food design requires the food to be both safe and nutritious. It should also appeal to the crew’s sensory preferences. The food must be easy to inject and digest and not cause any hygiene or gastroenterological problems.
The operational factor relates both to the food and the nature of its packaging. The package must be light in weight (engineering factor) but provide for protection and stability of the food in storage for periods that might last well over 30 days. Food must be easy to prepare and require little crew attention. Easy disposal of waste food and used packaging material is another constraint.
The engineering factor has to do with not only the weight of the food and packaging but how compact it is for storage. Thirty day missions of the Shuttle will require large amounts of food. The food and packaging must survive the temperature pressure, acceleration, and vibration of a Shuttle flight. Still another constraint is the quantity of water needed for rehydration.
The Space Shuttle menu currently features more than 70 food items and 20 beverages. Shuttle travelers will have a varied menu every day for six days rather than the personal preference meals used in previous space missions. Each day, three meals are allowed, with a repeat of menus after six days. The pantry also provides plenty of foods for snacks and between meal beverages and for individual menu changes. The pantry also stores additional contingency food to last 96 hours.
THERMOSTABILIZED (T):
Heat processed foods (“off-the-shelf” items) in aluminum or bimetallic tins and retort pouches.
Irradiated (I):
Foods preserved by exposure to ionizing radiation and packed in flexible foil-laminated pouches.
Intermediate Moisture (IM):
Dried foods with a low moisture content such as dried apricots. Packed in flexible pouches.
Freeze Dried (FD):
Foods that are prepared to the ready-to-eat stage, frozen and then dried in a freeze dryer which removes the water by sublimation. Freeze dried foods such as fruits may be eaten as is while others require the addition of hot or cold water before consumption.
Rehydratable (R):
Dried foods and cereals that are rehydrated with water produced by the Shuttle Orbiter’s fuel cell system. Packed in semi-rigid plastic container with septum for water injection.
Natural Form (NF):
Foods such as nuts, crunch bars, and cookies. Packed in flexible plastic pouches.
Beverages (B):
Dry beverage powder mixes packed in rehydratable
About the Author
R.CECIL WILLIAM MSC,MBA,MPHIL
LECTURER CATERING DEPARTMENT
RVS COLLEGE
Astronaut Sarah on next Space Shuttle mission?
Should Sarah Palin go to the next space shuttle mission to able to look down on Earth and become an expert in a lot of countries too fast?
Good idea. And I could mix Tang.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.