Space · Living in space and watching the sky
Eating in space
Bread is banned, crumbs fly
Only spacecraft can see it
The numbers
- The real problem
- Crumbs stay in the airAnd someone breathes them in
- How it is kept
- By taking the water outIt goes back in on board
- Salt and pepper
- Liquid, in drops
How it happens, step by step
Take the water out
Many foods are dried on the ground: that way they weigh less to carry and keep much longer.
Fasten the tray
The tray is fixed with Velcro and clips, and the pouches and cutlery are held down one by one.
Add hot water
A nozzle squirts water into the sealed pouch, and after a few minutes the food is ready to eat.
Just open it
The pouch is cut open only when needed, and you eat straight from it so nothing gets loose in the air.
Drink with a straw
Every drink goes through a straw with a valve, because pouring into a glass does not work here.
To get an idea
Salt and pepper as powder would make a cloud, so they are used dissolved in a liquid.
A poured liquid does not go down into the glass: it stays in midair as a wobbling ball.
Fun facts
These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.
On board they are rehydrated by squirting hot water into the pouch through a nozzle.
Salt and pepper as powder would scatter, so they are supplied dissolved in a liquid.
The tray is a board with Velcro and clips that holds pouches and cutlery still during the meal.
You drink only from straws with a valve, because a poured liquid would stay in midair.
Space stations keep dozens of different dishes on board, chosen to suit the crew's tastes.
The sense of taste gets weaker in orbit, and that is why tasty foods are the most popular.
Test yourself
The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.
Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book
What is the main problem with food in orbit?
Question 2 of 5
Why is ordinary bread not recommended?
Question 3 of 5
How are many foods kept?
Question 4 of 5
How are salt and pepper supplied?
Question 5 of 5
How do you drink on board?
Riddles
They take my water out on the ground to make me lighter, and then put it back up there with a nozzle. I wait a few minutes and I am ready. What am I?
If they poured me into a glass I would hang there as a wobbling ball, so up here I am drunk only through a straw with a valve. What am I?
Try it yourself
Put a drop of water on a greasy plate and watch how it gathers into a little ball: without weight water does exactly that, but in midair.
Taste something while holding your nose: the flavor fades. It is one of the reasons tastier foods are wanted up there.
The words
- rehydrate
- To put the water back into a dehydrated food to make it edible.
Sources: Wikidata (Q1145741), Wikipedia (Cibo spaziale).