Space tourism has its draws: the incredible views, weightlessness. One perk that probably doesn't come to mind when you imagine space travel, however, is the food. That is, unless freeze-dried or dehydrated food washed down with a gulp of Tang whets your appetite.
Soon, though, space cuisine could get a lot more toothsome thanks to the latest in space food technology: crumb-free bread, reports New Scientist.
A company called Bake In Space, founded by visionary Sebastian Marcu, wants to bring all the smells and tastes of freshly baked bread to astronauts and future space tourists. With help from the German Aerospace Centre and food scientists from several other research organizations, Marcu is developing a dough mixture and space-safe baking process that can allow bread to be made and eaten in a weightless environment.
"As space tourism takes off and people spend more time in space we need to allow bread to be made from scratch," said Marcu.
The first and the last time that bread was ever consumed while in orbit was during NASA’s 1965 Gemini 3 mission, when two astronauts snuck a corned beef sandwich on board. It nearly sacrificed the whole mission. Crumbs from the bread flew everywhere in the microgravity, which could have gotten into the astronauts' eyes or, worse, into the electrical panels where it could have started a fire. Bread has been banned from space flights ever since.
More:
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/crumb-free-bread-latest-space-food-inventionAnother of the billion and one problems needing solving for us to go into space in a big way solved.
