“All American” Space Dinner
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The chicken, brisket, corn and baked beans are thermostabilized space food items. Such products are like canned foods found in grocery stores, but they are packaged in pouches. Photo credit: NASA
On July 14th, the crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station will be enjoying a special “All-American Meal”, specially prepared by food scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA is encouraging the public to prepare the meal themselves and share it ‘virtually’ with the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis.
According to NASA, the crew’s dinner time will be in the early afternoon in the United States – no specific time zone was specified.
“Since the crew is launching in July, we thought it would be fun to have a typical summer meal often enjoyed in our backyards with friends and family,” said Michele Perchonok, NASA food scientist and manager of the shuttle food system.
The meal consists of an appetizer of brie cheese, crackers and sausage, the entrée for the shuttle crew features grilled chicken, Southwestern corn and baked beans. The ISS crew will have beef brisket instead of chicken, but will enjoy the same side dishes as the shuttle crew. Desert for both crews consists of apple pie. ( I wonder if they are having freeze-dried vanilla ice cream with the apple pie? )
To assist the public in cooking the “All American” dinner, NASA has published a PDF with the recipes for the dishes. You can download a copy of the PDF at: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/567294main_American_meal_Formulations.pdf
If you’d like to learn more about the STS-135 mission, which is the final Space Shuttle mission, you can do so at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html
Source:NASA Shuttle Mission News Release
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:06:21
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/07/13/all-american-space-dinner/
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