Space Food, Noodles & Chicken, Space Shuttle

This chicken and noodles entrée was typical of Space Shuttle crews’ menu choices. Before each mission, the astronauts selected their meals from a list of hundreds of food items. As there was no onboard refrigerator or freezer, most foods stocked on the Shuttle were processed for storage at room temperature. Single servings were packaged in disposable plastic containers, pop-top cans, or foil pouches, and foods were eaten directly from these containers. Dehydrated food items like this had a circular port for adding water to make the food edible. NASA transferred a variety of spare food items to the Museum during the Shuttle era.