Food Selection
Preparing food in the unique conditions imparted by microgravity and selecting foods to appropriately meet nutritional needs is an important part of astronaut training. Not only is eating an integral part of each individual astronaut's physical well-being, it is also vital for their mental well-being. This is because the selection of appropriate food products can function to maintain crew morale while providing an opportunity to share cultural traditions.
Axiom Space has worked with the Ax-2 crew members during food-tasting sessions to inform crew preferences and address their individual dietary requirements. Axiom Space's food scientist selected various commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) food products, like nutrition bars, candies, snacks, and shelf-stable entrées, and prepared samples of these products for the tasting sessions. The goal of these sessions was focused on examining food products in terms of overall flavor, texture, aroma, and other product-specific attributes. The entrées selected for these sessions are Halal-certified and were sourced by Axiom Space’s food scientist to meet the centric dietary requirements of several of the crewmembers.
The Axiom Space food scientist implements these procedures to address how food may taste in space, since many former astronauts have said that food often tastes different or bland when in orbit. This is primarily due to how the reduced gravity environment impacts the fluids in an astronaut's body, while also affecting their sense of taste and smell.
The sensory acceptability data gathered by Axiom Space's food scientist enables the team to develop a path to simultaneously provide an acceptable nutritional profile while also ensuring that the food is enjoyable to the crew.
Preparing Food in Space
We've come a long way from the early days of space travel when NASA's Mercury astronauts mostly ate food from tubes and in cubes. Today's modern astronauts consume food that smells and tastes like home-cooked meals. The crew of Ax-2 worked with a food scientist to develop meals and snacks that meet each individual's nutritional needs and to ensure that the food provided would be something they enjoyed eating during the mission.
Astronaut food is specially prepared, processed, and packaged for microgravity conditions that can withstand space travel. During astronaut training, the Ax-2 crew learns how to prepare meals when exposed to the unique conditions experienced during flight and while on the International Space Station (ISS).
On the ISS, astronauts use the "galley" as the primary area to prepare and consume food. Most space food comes in flexible packaging or cans to minimize up-mass volume and maintain the quality of the food. Astronauts use hook-and-loop fasteners, to affix food to surfaces and ensure it doesn't float away during mealtimes.
Space food is processed in a way so that it does not require refrigeration. As a result, it is ready to eat and easy to prepare. Some food and snacks can be eaten right out of the package, or in their natural form, like fruit and nuts. Other meals, like pasta, may require adding water from a rehydration station on the ISS. Crew members can also heat the food product in a food warmer, which, in addition to the process of rehydration, may take 20 to 30 minutes.