How Astronauts Eat in Space – See This Colorful Info-graphic

March 16, 2016

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March 16, 2016 – First time guest blogger, Joy Billings is part of the creative team in charge of producing educational, fun and informative content at Labeley.com. She along and her colleagues find interesting topics that can be visually rendered in appealing ways. This info-graphic has been inspired by work being done at Wageningen University in The Netherlands where researchers are conducting experiments to grow crops for the Martian and lunar environment, and by the initiative, Mars One. Joy has provided some context as a preamble to the info-graphic. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I first saw it.

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In preparation for a mission to Mars NASA and others, like Mars One, are taking on some huge technological challenges, growing food on Mars being one of them.

But have you ever wondered how astronauts eat in space?

The micro gravity on the International Space Station (ISS) causes objects including food and liquid to behave in unusual ways. For example, bodily fluids move upward. So when food and liquids are ingested by crew members they do not follow the usual path we experience here on Earth where gravity assists in digestion.

The astronauts feel the fluid buildup in their heads causing congestion and diminished sense of smell. As a result they pretty much don’t taste food the same way we do here at home. Combine that with the designed consistency needed to secure the food to utensils so that it doesn’t float away before being eaten and you have a number of culinary palate challenges.

Ever since the first human space flights in the early 1960s scientists have been experimenting with formulas and packaging designed to provide astronauts with highly nutritious meals that preserve their health and give them the physical and emotional strength to endure long-term space flight.

The info-graphic below attempts to capture the story and effort behind food in space and what it really is like to eat and drink on board ISS.

If you are having trouble reading all of the information contained within the info-graphic, you can access the original at http://labeley.com/article/space-food-infographic/.