1994, Russia and the United States jointly studied space food, while Russia began research and development of space food as early as the early 1960s.
Now, the first batch of space food is displayed in the Aerospace Museum in Gagarin. Through the glass, you can see the hoses containing coffee, soup and soft candy produced decades ago. But now what astronauts eat has changed fundamentally.
Here is a brief introduction to the changes that space food has experienced.
Hose food: lack of nutrition makes people faint.
When space food was first developed, people thought that space food should have higher biological activity and heat, and it should be highly concentrated. These foods should be edible, absorbed quickly after entering the stomach, and produce as little residue as possible, because the space for holding waste and excrement in the space station is very limited. Researchers once imagined making food into tablets so that astronauts could take them at any time without affecting their work.
Later, however, the canned food factory produced three dishes packed in hoses according to the advice of medical scientists. 196 1 In August, Titov, the second astronaut of the former Soviet Union, first ate this new food. He flew in space for 25 hours and ate three times. When Titov returned to the ground, he said that he felt dizzy during the flight. Physicians thought it was caused by weightlessness, while nutritionists thought it was discomfort caused by not having enough to eat.
In fact, the latter statement makes more sense. Think about it, the first course of space meal is just a cup of vegetable soup, the second course is liver mud, and the last course is a cup of black pulp juice. A healthy young man will naturally feel dizzy if he can't keep up with nutrition in a specific environment like space.
Ensure nutrition: strict processing, variety.
In order to ensure the normal working conditions of astronauts, beef tongue, herring pie, Ukrainian red vegetable soup, fried meat pie and chicken chops were added to space food ... The personnel responsible for developing sweets made more than 20 kinds of fruit juices, 15 kinds of pulp strips, fruit purees and vegetable sauces. Vitamin tablets made from grapes are not only delicious, but also can be dissolved in the mouth without drinking water.
Later, the mixed tea (Indian black tea and Samarkand green tea) made by V. Pokhlyubkin cheered the former Soviet astronaut Savinykh up during the preparation for space flight.
Since then, the former Soviet Union has attached great importance to the development of space food. These foods are not produced in batches, the quality is impeccable, and they are absolutely non-toxic, and the microbial content is strictly controlled. Space food should be able to be preserved for a long time at room temperature. In order to test the shelf life of food, the researchers put them in special sealed containers, then stored them in a simulated space environment and took them out for testing regularly. The test is time-consuming. If the shelf life of the food is indicated as three years, then it has been stored for at least three years.
The demand for space food exceeds the demand for food for the top leaders. For example, the smoked sausage made by mikoyan Meat Factory, which supplies meat for the Soviet Union, just failed to meet the requirements of the space food inspection department.
Russia-US Cooperation: A New Era of Space Food
The early 1980s was the peak of the space food industry in the former Soviet Union. At that time, it was able to manufacture 260 kinds of space food. Unfortunately, after the reform began, this department went downhill, and the variety of food was reduced to 50 or 60. To maintain such a department, there must be government funding, but with the economic recession and the sharp decline in the number of astronauts, it is of course difficult to continue to maintain it.
1991~1992 is even worse. Although the contents of carbohydrates, fats and vitamins still meet the requirements, but the food is monotonous, astronauts have opinions, and researchers try their best to find money to continue scientific research. Just then, the Russian-American "Gore-chernomyrdin" joint plan for the "Peace" and the American space shuttle came out, which included cooperation in the field of space food. This is an opportunity for Russia to diversify space food, and it is a good time for the United States to learn from experience.
At present, the cooperation between Russia and the United States in aerospace food is progressing normally, and different astronauts enjoy different foods. The food to be provided to astronauts was tasted and scored by Russian and American astronauts respectively, with the highest score of 10, and less than 5 points were eliminated. Then the nutritionist will prescribe a recipe for 8 days, which will be circulated once every 8 days. Experts pay special attention to the selection of recipes for astronauts who go to heaven for the first time. Although people's taste will not change greatly in space, subtle differences still exist. Some people don't eat milk residue and fruit soup, but they actually regard it as food in space; I used to love chicken, but I didn't even touch it.
What do astronauts eat in space now? In fact, it is almost exactly the same as on the ground: brown bread, honey cakes, ham, pork with sweet and sour sauce, quail, Polish barracuda, Russian cheese, sturgeon, vegetable soup and red soup, strawberries, biscuits, chocolate, tea and coffee. Astronauts no longer have to suck from hoses. They are packed in special utensils, which can be placed directly on the workbench with heating equipment, and some are packed in polymer. You don't even have to eat the second course. You can eat it with a spoon or fork.
In addition, astronauts can also eat fresh fruits and vegetables. The difference is that Americans like oranges, oranges or lemons, while Russians like apples, tomatoes and scallions.
Walnut milk residue is a favorite food for Russian and American astronauts. Scientists have praised drinks made of seabuckthorn juice, honey and antioxidants that can help waste excretion in the body. Cold smoked horse meat greatly stimulated the appetite of astronauts. Interestingly, poliakov once made a cake out of biscuits, hazelnuts and sweet milk residue by using waste food boxes as molds in space, which made his colleagues in space have a good meal.