- The Artemis II lunar mission crew has a food menu of almost 200 items.
- NASA-designed meals are ready to eat or just need water and a quick warm-up.
- Orion astronauts got to pick their favorite meals ahead of the mission.
There’s no fridge on the Orion space capsule and NASA says a lot of thought goes into the preparation and packaging of the food selections aimed at keeping the four lunar mission crew members healthy and performing at their peak throughout the planned 10-day, half-million mile journey.
NASA says the menu options for Artemis II are curated based on shelf life, food safety, nutritional value, crew preference and compatibility with Orion’s mass, volume and power requirements. Foods must be easy to prepare and consumed in microgravity, minimize crumbs and remain safe and stable throughout the mission. Crew favorites were also considered, NASA reports, before the meals were packed aboard the Orion capsule ahead of the flight.
Over a typical day in space, mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have time scheduled for breakfast, lunch and dinner and are also allotted two flavored beverages each day like coffee or a chocolate breakfast drink. The Orion crew’s in-flight meals, so to speak, are a combination of freeze-dried and ready-to-eat options, all of which are prepared and packaged at NASA’s Johnson Space Center facility in Texas.
Orion’s crew uses on-board potable water to rehydrate freeze-dried meals and can warm those selections in the ship’s compact, briefcase-style food warmer. Koch and Hansen talk about the meal selections for the mission, and the challenges of eating in space, in this NASA-produced video:
Koch said the menu selection aboard Orion is surprisingly diverse.
“Different entrees that you wouldn’t imagine could be rehydrated and actually good in space are completely fair game,” Koch said while sampling options at NASA’s food lab in Texas. “And it’s pretty awesome.”
NASA says the menu options available for the Artemis II crew reflect decades of advancement in space food systems. Apollo missions relied on early food technologies with limited variety, while space shuttle missions expanded menu options and onboard preparation. The International Space Station benefits from regular resupply and occasional fresh foods, NASA said, while in contrast, Artemis II uses a fixed, pre-selected menu designed for a self-contained space vehicle with no resupply.
The Orion menu consists of almost 200 items, including 10 different beverages and food options such as vegetable quiche, mango salad, barbecue beef brisket and mac and cheese. When the crew is needing something to satisfy a sweet tooth, treats include pudding, cobbler, cookies and candy-coated almonds.
