The Classic Steak Breakfast NASA Astronauts Eat Before Going To Space

Yahoo

07-06-2025

Astronauts are like athletes; they have to train for their NASA mission at hand, and that starts with what they put in their bodies. Before blasting off in a rocket headed for space, astronauts need a breakfast fit for explorers. Enter steak and eggs. This protein-rich duo became the last meal ritual for cosmo travelers when, in 1961, American astronaut Alan Shepard became the first human to leave the Earth's atmosphere aboard the Mercury spacecraft, Freedom 7, to experience those zero Gs.
Low in fiber but filling and satiating, this meal doesn't disrupt the body's constitution, meaning an astronaut like Shepard can skip the bathroom for the 15 minutes it takes to reach space. This isn't necessarily the case with a tropical kale smoothie or your favorite espresso drink, thanks to the diuretic properties of this morning brew. In fact, Shepard couldn't have coffee starting 24 hours prior to liftoff.
But steak and eggs wasn't Shepard's idea. It was chosen by Beatrice Finkelstein of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory and set the standard for over six decades. Today, steak eggs is still the go-to breakfast for astronauts before launching up into the heavens.
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As beloved as steak and eggs is, this culinary power couple is not uniquely American; it hails from Australia, and it is considered this country's national dish. However, it is a combo that America quickly embraced. In the 1940s, as World War II was in full swing, this decadent meal fueled the military and was adopted by the United States Marines. It was a special meal troops would wolf down before an invasion.
While steak and eggs is the pregaming meal astronauts eat before leaving the ground, the food that they initially ate in space was not as lovely. Their space pantry items had to have an extended shelf life, which meant eating foods like those that have been freeze-dried or irradiated. Since those early decades, NASA's food approach has shifted, and space explorers have taken everything from pizza to a bacon sandwich; Apollo 11 astronauts ate Stouffer's meals during 'moon quarantine.' However, there is one food that generally doesn't make it into an astronaut's food supply: bread. It leaves crumbs that can wreak havoc if it gets on equipment. Instead, they opt for tortillas if they need a carb fix.
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