PUBLISHED: MAY 12, 2021

Dinner on space station: Beef bourguignon or lobster?

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet headed to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket recently. He’ll get to dine on food there from a menu co-created by Michelin-starred chefs like Mr Alain Ducasse.


Dishes he and his crew mates will enjoy include beef bourguignon, lobster, and almond tarts with caramelised pears.

Space cuisine has come a long way since cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin squeezed pureed beef and chocolate sauce from tubes. In 1961, he was the first human to travel in space.

“There’s a lot of expectations when you send a Frenchman into space... All my colleagues are expecting good food.”

FRENCH ASTRONAUT THOMAS PESQUET

Much of the space food came dehydrated and sealed in cans and plastic bags, as Mr Pesquet showed during a video from a previous space trip. It was heated to kill germs so it could sit at room temperature for years.


“At the beginning, we were trying to do a croissant,” said French space agency scientist Alain Maillet. The result, he said, was awful. “It was not possible to put a croissant in a can and have it thermo-stabilised.”



Future food challenges will include cooking and growing crops. That will become crucial on longer missions like trips to Mars, where there will not be a continual arrival of supply ships.

FOOD FOR MARS TRIP
FOOD FOR MARS TRIP

SOURCE: REPORT BY NYTIMES; VIDEOS BY EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, ESA/YOUTUBE; PHOTOS BY ALAINDUCASSE/INSTAGRAM AND AFP

PRODUCED BY: DENISE CHONG

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