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Space Food
Program Overview
NASA is offering packages of dehydrated astronaut space food to
educational institutions and museums. Would you like to have a piece of
history for your classroom, lecture space or display? Sign up now
because a limited number of food packages, each containing approximately
three food packets, are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
So what makes this food so important?
How would you feed a crew of six astronauts on an 80-million-mile,
three-year mission to Mars, where there are no grocery stores, gardens,
farms, fertile soil or resupply vehicle? In order to further space
exploration beyond near-Earth, NASA must develop a means to harvest food
in zero gravity, with very limited fertile soil and a limited water
supply. So far, NASA’s advances in providing nourishing and tasty food
for astronauts in space have led to many innovations in consumer food
preservation, preparation and portability. What will further research
lead to?
Explore this question by signing up and requesting a Space Food Package
- the same as those used during the space shuttle and space station
programs.
Remember, food packages are available on a first-come, first-served,
one-per-institution basis.
 
Left Image: Astronaut Brian Duffy, STS-92 mission commander,
samples a beverage during a crew food evaluation session in the food
laboratory at the Engineering and Applications Development Laboratory at
the Johnson Space Center (JSC).
Right Image: President Bill Clinton prepares to use a fork to
sample some space food while visiting NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
in 1998. Holding the food packet is U.S. Sen. John H. Glenn Jr.
(D.-Ohio), who launched on STS-95 later that year as a payload
specialist aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. Looking on is astronaut
Curtis L. Brown Jr., STS-95 commander. The picture was taken in the full
fuselage trainer (FFT). Photo Credit: Joe McNally, National Geographic, for NASA
How to Apply
Request a Space Food Package at the "NASA Space Programs - Historic
Artifacts Prescreening" Web site. Once at the site, go to the "NASA
Artifacts Prescreening Register" block of information to register and receive your login ID and password.
If you have difficulty with the registration process at the Historic
Artifacts Prescreening page, please send an email to this address.
NOTE: For educational institutions, a Department of Education
statistics tracking number (NCES for schools or IPEDS for universities)
is required to register; hyperlinks are available to Web sites where you
can find your institution's tracking number.
Once registered, log in using the provided user ID and temporary
password; change password; and complete log in. Select the "Special
Items" category to process your request for Space Food.
Because the food is government property, a transfer protocol is observed
(signatures and routing are done electronically). Recipients will be
responsible for a shipping and handling fee of $28.03 per package, which
is payable to the shipping company through a secure Web site.
Additional space shuttle links are available from the "NASA Space
Programs – Historic Artifacts Prescreening" Web site. You can
also view and request other NASA artifacts that are periodically
offered. Directions for requesting artifacts are available on the Web
site Home page or from this "Space Shuttle Program Artifacts" brochure.
Other Food Information Links:
+ Space Food Fact Sheets
+ Space Food History for Students
+ Space Food [PDF 98KB]
+ Incredible Edibles from Space [PDF 2.5MB]
+ Cosmic Cuisine [PDF 59KB]
+ Space Station Overview [PDF 91KB]
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