What do astronauts eat in space?

Astronaut Howard was talking to his family about the discomfort of acid reflux in zero gravity and the fact that he had only three anti-acid tablets left. So what do astronauts eat in space?

The astronauts' food is colorful and has grown from a dozen varieties to more than 100. Astronauts typically eat four meals a day, with no repeat recipes during the week. Some people think that astronauts are made into toothpaste-like food squeezed to eat, must be very boring, in fact, this is the early astronauts situation, today has long been different. Astronauts can eat in space to sausage patties, spicy grilled fish, potatoes, beef, cream bread, black bean gravy, tuna salad, cookies, chocolate, yogurt, preserved fruit, juice and a variety of delicacies, U.S. astronauts can even drink their favorite Coca-Cola. However, astronauts can't eat whatever they want. They must follow the recipes prepared for them by the nutritionist on the ground. U.S. space shuttle astronauts eat, first labeled with the first few days of the first few meals of the plastic bag out of the food cupboard. Each plastic bag contains seven food items for one astronaut. Space food is dehydrated, and before eating, the food can be put into a bowl-shaped container, then inject a certain amount of water into the container with a syringe, and then put into the oven to heat up. A meal can be "done" in less than half an hour.

The space table is specially designed. It is magnetic and can hold knives, forks, spoons, bowls, plates and other cutlery, and the table is equipped with a water cooler and heater. When eating, astronauts must first fix their feet on the floor and fix their bodies on the seats to avoid floating. In the face of the meal on the table, do not rush, must pay attention to the end of the bowl, clip the rice, open the mouth, chewing a series of coordinated action. End of the bowl to be gentle, too violent action, rice will float out of the bowl; clip rice, clip food to be decisive, clip to clip accurate, clip, it is best not to pull the bowl mess dial, so as not to drift away from the rice, the use of a fork is the best effect; rice clip, open your mouth quickly, shut up fast, because even if it is put into the mouth of food, do not shut up and it will be "flying" away; Chewing rhythm to slow down, chewing and swallowing is conducive to digestion, but also can reduce the body's emissions and excretion, to avoid the astronauts living environment pollution.

Some people like to chat during meals, and the most taboo in space eating is to eat while talking. Talking while eating will make the mouth chewed food debris flying out of the mouth, floating in the dining room or living cabin, astronauts a little inattentive inhalation into the nasal cavity will be easy to choke to the lungs in danger.

China's Shenzhou series of spacecraft astronauts are how to eat?

China's Shenzhou spacecraft more than 70 kinds of food, every day is not the same. The basic principles regarding the selection of food for astronauts are as follows:

1. The nutritional structure should be suitable for the nature of the 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 compliance with the standards, the key is to ensure the consistency of food quality so as to avoid problems after astronauts' consumption.

3. The taste of food is the same as that of normal people.

4. Samples of food consumed by astronauts must be kept and preserved for three days to track the reaction of astronauts after consumption.

First breakfast in space

The first breakfast of Shenzhou-9 astronauts in space was assorted fried rice, dry-roasted apricot mushrooms, shredded pork with snow peas, squash, barbecued pork sauce, and strong milk tea. The camera crew solved to, fish flavor shredded pork, pine nut corn, moo shu pork, black pepper beef tenderloin, assorted fried rice, Sichuan spicy sauce, lemon tea, etc., in the Shenzhou IX manned mission, 7 categories *** more than 70 kinds of Chinese food with the astronauts in space.

The "Shenzhou 9" mission food, from the variety to the flavor of the ground to do a lot of tests, and even asked the astronauts to taste, but also for the characteristics of the female astronauts developed some food. The food is broadly categorized into canned food, dehydrated food, medium-water food, natural food and beverages. For example, mixed fried rice, shrimp scrambled eggs, etc., drinks mainly lemon tea, pineapple juice, grape juice, etc., in addition, there are Sichuan-style hot sauce, sweet and spicy sauce, ketchup and other condiments for the three astronauts to choose.

The space food is in line with Chinese dietary habits and can be heated, which is actually a development direction for future medium- and long-term space flights. The food is stored in a special food cabinet in advance, and what to eat at each meal is already set. Astronauts to eat the food out, different food has different packaging, and placed in different grids set the temperature heating, timing the end of the automatic power-off. After heating, the food is taken out and put in the meal tray, and after opening the bag, it can be eaten. The so-called meal is to heat the food is fixed in a place, and let the astronauts to maintain a suitable body position, to simulate the ground normal meal.

In addition to eating, the astronauts each have to drink about 2.2 kilograms of water per day. When they want to drink water, the astronauts will take a water dispenser, connect it to the water tank, stuff the dispenser into their mouths, which has a spout to be pressed under their tongues, and then rely on their hands to pinch the switch, and the water will be pressed out. Astronauts each have their own special spout.

Chinese traditional specialties as the main

Experts introduced the ShenJiu mission food to Chinese traditional specialties as the main food, with storage resistance, good sensory acceptability, to adapt to the astronauts' individual dietary needs, so that the astronauts in the implementation of the mission during the flight can also be experienced in the atmosphere of the traditional Chinese food culture.

Is space food to the taste of astronauts? Experts said that the food in the development process, in accordance with the principle of "nutritional balance with staple and sideline food", in order to meet the weight and volume of the strict limitations of the premise, extensive consultation with astronauts, give full consideration to the astronauts' taste characteristics, and each item of food developed, the first astronauts taste and fill out the "sensory evaluation form", the astronauts can also experience the traditional Chinese food culture atmosphere during the mission. When each food item is developed, the astronauts are first asked to taste it and fill in the "sensory evaluation form", and only food items with more than 60 points can be selected as recipes for this mission.

Female astronauts have a "small stove"

The Shenzhou IX manned mission is the first appearance of female astronauts in China. In response to the nutritional needs and physiological characteristics of women in the space environment, the research lab designed flight recipes to meet the dietary needs of female astronauts, fully guaranteeing the dietary health and nutritional balance of female astronauts participating in manned flight for the first time.

Antioxidant Foods to Help Adapt to Space

Aiming at the metabolic characteristics of the human body and the requirements for medical protection in medium- and long-term manned flights, the Laboratory also developed antioxidant foods with the ability to alleviate cellular oxidization and improve the human body's immunity, thus enhancing the astronauts' adaptability to the specific environment of spaceflight and their protection ability through dietary means.

Under the strict limitation of spacecraft load and power consumption, the research lab has overcome the key technology of residual food processing, and solved the contradiction between lightweight, high reliability and zero power consumption of residual food processing supplies under the prerequisite of not consuming extra spacecraft power and not increasing the spacecraft's upward load.