Astronauts' meals are varied, from the initial dozen to more than 100. Astronauts usually eat four meals a day, and the recipes are not repeated for a week. Some people think it must be boring for astronauts to make toothpaste out of their food. In fact, this is the case of early astronauts, and it is not what it used to be. Astronauts can eat sausage pies, spicy grilled fish, roast beef with potatoes, buttered bread, lobster sauce broth, tuna salad, biscuits, chocolate, yogurt, preserved fruit, juice and other delicacies in space. American astronauts can even drink their favorite Coca-Cola. However, astronauts can't eat casually. They must eat according to the recipes prepared by the nutritionist on the ground. When the astronauts on the American space shuttle eat, they first take out the plastic bag marked "which day and which meal" from the food cabinet. There are seven kinds of food in each plastic bag for astronauts to eat. Space food is dehydrated food. Before eating, you can put the food in a bowl-shaped container, then inject a certain amount of water into the container with a syringe and heat it in the oven. A meal can be cooked in less than half an hour.
The space dining table is specially made. It is magnetic and can absorb knives, forks, spoons, bowls, plates and other tableware. The table is equipped with a water cooler and a heater. When eating, astronauts must first fix their feet on the floor and their bodies on the seats to avoid fluttering. Facing the food on the table, don't worry, be sure to pay attention to the coordination of a series of actions such as holding the bowl, filling the rice, opening your mouth and chewing. Gently end the bowl, too hard, rice will float out of the bowl; It is necessary to be decisive in clamping rice and vegetables, to be accurate in clamping, and to clamp in clamping. It's best not to pull into the bowl, lest the food drift away. Forks are the best. After the food is caught, open your mouth and shut up quickly, because even the food put in your mouth will fly away if you don't shut up; When chewing, the rhythm should be slowed down. Chewing slowly is beneficial to digestion, and it can also reduce the generation and excretion of waste gas in the body and avoid the pollution of astronauts' living environment.
Some people like to chat while eating, and eating in space is the most taboo. Eating and talking will make the food scraps chewed in your mouth fly out of your mouth and float into the restaurant or living room. Astronauts are easily suffocated by their lungs if they accidentally inhale into the nasal cavity.
How do astronauts eat on China Shenzhou series spacecraft?
There are more than 70 kinds of food in shenzhou spaceship, China, which are not re-sampled every day. The basic principles of astronaut food selection are as follows:
1, the nutritional structure should be suitable for the nature of astronauts' work and the nutrition should be comprehensive.
2. The food quality standard is higher than the national standard, and the milk refers to the national standard. In the case of meeting the standards, the key is to ensure the consistency of food quality and avoid problems after astronauts eat it.
The food tastes like ordinary people.
The food samples eaten by astronauts must be kept for three days to track the astronauts' reaction after eating.
The first breakfast in space
The first breakfast of Shenzhou-9 astronauts in space was assorted fried rice, dry-roasted Pleurotus eryngii, shredded pork with sauerkraut, pickled mustard tuber, barbecued pork sauce and fragrant milk tea. The film crew learned that fish-flavored shredded pork, pine nut corn, moo Shu pork, black pepper beef tenderloin, assorted fried rice, Sichuan-style hot sauce, lemon tea and so on. In the Shenzhou-9 manned mission, there were more than 70 kinds of Chinese food in seven categories, which went into space with the astronauts.
The food of Shenzhou IX mission was tested on the ground from variety to taste, and even astronauts were invited to taste it. Some foods were also developed according to the characteristics of female astronauts. Food can be roughly divided into canned food, dehydrated food, moderate moisture food, natural food and beverage. Such as mixed fried rice, scrambled eggs with shrimps, etc. Drinks mainly include lemon tea, pineapple juice and grape juice. In addition, there are Sichuan-style hot sauce, sweet hot sauce, tomato sauce and other table condiments for the three astronauts to choose from.
Space food conforms to China people's eating habits and can be heated, which is actually the development direction of space in the future. Food is stored in a special food cabinet in advance, and what to eat for each meal has been decided. Astronauts take out the food they should eat. Different foods have different packages and put them in different grids to set the temperature for heating. When the time is up, the power will be cut off automatically. Take it out after heating and put it in a plate. After opening the bag, you can eat it. The so-called dining is to heat and fix food in one place, so that astronauts can maintain a proper posture and simulate normal eating on the ground.
Besides eating, astronauts drink about 2.2 kilograms of water every day. When astronauts want to drink water, they will take a water dispenser, connect it to the water tank, put the water dispenser in their mouth, and there is a water spout in the water dispenser that can be pressed under their tongue, then press the switch with their hands and the water will be squeezed out. Every astronaut has his own special water nozzle.
Give priority to traditional food in China.
According to experts, the Shenzhou-9 mission food is mainly China traditional food, which has the characteristics of storability, good sensory acceptability and adaptability to the individual dietary needs of astronauts, so that astronauts can also experience the atmosphere of traditional food culture in China during the mission.
Is space food to astronauts' taste? Experts said that in the process of food development, according to the principle of "balanced nutrition of main and non-staple foods", under the premise of strictly limiting weight and volume, the opinions of astronauts were widely solicited and the taste characteristics of astronauts were fully considered. When each food is developed, astronauts will be invited to taste and fill in the "sensory evaluation form" first, and only foods with 60 points or more can be selected for this mission.
Female astronauts have "small stoves"
The Shenzhou-9 manned mission is the first appearance of a female astronaut in China. According to the nutritional needs and physiological characteristics of women in the space environment, the research room designed flight recipes to meet the dietary needs of female astronauts, which fully guaranteed the dietary health and nutritional balance of female astronauts who participated in manned flights for the first time.
Antioxidant foods help to adapt to space.
In view of the metabolic characteristics and medical protection requirements of medium and long-term manned flight, the research room has also developed antioxidant functional foods that can alleviate cell oxidation and improve human immunity, and improve astronauts' adaptability and protection ability to a specific space environment through diet.
Under the condition of strictly limiting the load and power consumption of spacecraft, the research laboratory has overcome the key technology of residual food treatment, and solved the contradiction between lightweight, high reliability and zero power consumption of residual food treatment supplies without increasing the additional power consumption and uplink load of spacecraft.