Astronauts took on a unique experiment last month: baking snacks in space for the very first time, in an effort to make future extended missions to the moon and Mars more appetizing!
Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and his colleagues, among them fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch, baked five cookies in a zero-gravity oven at different times and temperatures. The best results took up to 130 minutes to bake – and the cookies were sent back down to earth early January to test if they are safe to eat.
“The reminder of home, the connection with home, I think, can’t be overstated,” says former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino to the Associated Press. “From my personal experience … food is pretty important for not just nutrition but also for morale in keeping people connected to their home and their Earth.”
If proven successful, experts anticipate some freshly baked options to be added to the menu currently available in orbit!
