One small step for man, one giant step for dehydrated dinners.
NASA has unveiled the 189 food items its four astronauts will be taking to space on board their upcoming Artemis II mission to the moon.
The agency agonized over each individual item in order to make sure the space cadets are properly nourished for the 10-day interstellar expedition.
“With no resupply, refrigeration, or late-load capability, all meals must be carefully selected to remain safe, shelf-stable, and easy to prepare and consume in NASA’s Orion spacecraft,” they wrote in a piece about the foods and beverages published on Tuesday. “Food selections are developed in coordination with space food experts and the crew to balance calorie needs, hydration, and nutrient intake while accommodating individual crew preferences.”
The spaceflight is the first crewed mission around the moon and beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The menu includes 5 different types of hot sauces and more than 10 beverages, including lemonade, apple cider and vanilla, chocolate and strawberry “breakfast drinks.”
Coffee will also be taken into the cosmos, with enough beans to make approximately 43 cups of java. That equates to around one cup per day for each of the four astronauts over the 10 days.
Fresh foods will not be flying on Artemis II as Orion does not have refrigeration, NASA stated.
However, fruits and vegetables that don’t spoil can be brought on board, including butternut squash and blueberries. There’ll also be a mango salad, per the menu released by the ageny.
In addition to fiber, astronauts will still be able to get their protein through nuts and barbecued beef brisket, which will be dehydrated when it’s brought on board.
There will also be 58 tortillas taken into space, as well as spicy mustard, strawberry jam and almond butter.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency Jeremy Hansen, are the four astronauts recruited for the mission.
The quartet was expected to embark on the mission at the beginning of this month, but the launch date has since been delayed. It is now tentatively scheduled for April 1.
During NASA’s Apollo program, 24 astronauts flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972.
The new Artemis program has completed only one flight so far, a lunar-orbiting mission without a crew in 2022.
Artemis II will fly just over 4,000 miles from the lunar surface, and the mission will test life-support and module systems crucial to the landing missions expected in the coming years.
