Moon Food

Rocket Team astronauts often study old documents from NASA.  Here is a good one called "Crew Personal Equipment."

This old document has lots of good information, but I was really interested in how Apollo astronauts would prepare and eat food on the moon. Here are some of my observations.

Calories

The astronaut's food supply was about 3,500 calories per day.  It included liquids and solids with good nutrition and low waste content.

Bags

The food was vacuum packed in plastic bags that have one-way valves for water to go in.

Another valve allowed them to squeeze the food into their mouths.

The food bags were packed in plastic bags with aluminum foil backs.  Their color codes were: red (breakfast), white (lunch) and blue (snacks).

Prep

Some food had to have water added. They would use scissors to cut the food bag's water valve.

Then they would shoot water into the bag.

They kneaded the food bag for a few minutes until the food seemed ready to eat.

Eating and Cleanup

After cutting off the neck of the food bag, they squeezed the food right into their mouths.

They inserted a germicide tablet, attached to the outside of the food bag, into the bag after eating, to prevent fermentation and gas formation.

They rolled bag to its smallest size, wrapped it with a rubber band, and placed in the waste disposal compartment.

Pip wants to know: what is your favorite moon food?

A. Squeeze cheese on English peas.

B. Peanut butter and tuna fish.

C. Asparagus-flavored jello.

Send your answers to RamoneRocketeer -at- gmail -dot- com.