Tag: Space cuisine

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history by becoming the first person to eat in space during the Vostok 1 mission. He consumed a meal of beef and liver paste from a tube, proving that eating was possible in microgravity.

In the early days of space travel, astronauts consumed pureed foods from tubes. Modern astronauts on missions lasting up to nine months now enjoy a diverse menu, designed to meet nutritional needs and boost morale in orbit.

In early space missions, astronauts squeezed unappetizing food paste from tubes, but today's cuisine is much more advanced. A key to this evolution is dehydration, a critical process that makes food suitable for the challenging space environment for a variety of scientific and logistical reasons.