Eating and drinking

Eating and drinking can be a little bit tricky when you are in a weightless environment! The earliest astronauts like John Glenn (in the 1960's) had to eat little dried cubes, or food turned to mush and put in a tube like toothpaste. They didn't like it much! And every crumb that got away floated around and got into the instruments, so they had to try and catch every single one! Later on, in Apollo missions, they could add water to food to make it more normal, and even have hot drinks. They also had a "spoon-bowl" package which meant after you added water through a nozzle, a plastic zipper was opened and the food removed with a spoon. This made eating a nicer experience.

This man is drinking through a straw, and this is the only way that you can drink in a weightless environment. Anything that is liquid (even soup) would just float around the place in droplets otherwise, and make an awful mess.

Preparation of a meal on the Shuttle is started by a crewmember 30 to 60 minutes before mealtime. The "chef" removes complete meal packages from storage and adds water by putting a needle in the pack to squirt water in. Food is sent up in dried form to save weight and storage space. The water is easy to add later because water is formed as part of the electricity generation system. Sometimes the packs need to be heated up in an oven. Drink containers for the Shuttle are also bags with a straw. When not in use, a clamp closes the straw. While the astronauts are eating, food containers are held in a food tray that is attached to a table or the astronaut's lap. Eating utensils consist of a knife, fork, spoon, and a pair of scissors for cutting open packages. Food can be seasoned with serving-sized packets of mustard, catsup, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and liquified salt and pepper. Following the meal, food containers are thrown away and the utensils and serving trays are cleaned with "wet wipes."

How about this for dinner? A typical meal on the new space station! A day's menus might include orange drink, peaches, scrambled eggs, sausage, cocoa, and a sweet roll for breakfast; cream of mushroom soup, ham and cheese sandwich, stewed tomatoes, banana, and cookies for lunch; and shrimp cocktail, beefsteak, broccoli au gratin, strawberries, pudding, and cocoa for dinner.