Latest news with #SpaceFoodSticks
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The Old-School 1960s NASA Space Food That Landed In American Pantries
Created in collaboration with NASA during the height of the space race, Space Food Sticks were Pillsbury's innovative solution to the challenge of fueling astronauts on space missions. Developed by food scientist Howard Bauman, these chewy tubes were an energy-dense snack for zero-gravity conditions that later landed in grocery stores across America. In the 1970s, they became a quirky household favorite — not just for their portability, but for offering kids a taste of space-age excitement. What began as a scientific solution to fuel astronauts became an edible emblem of a forward-looking era, briefly blurring the line between astronaut fuel and after-school treat. Space Food Sticks were among the first foods engineered specifically for space conditions: crumb-free, shelf-stable, and packed with essential nutrients. It's unclear if all versions of Pillsbury Space Food Sticks had the same basic contents. However, some ingredient lists reveal a mix of soy and milk proteins, glucose, sugar, vegetable fats and emulsifiers. The available flavors of chocolate and peanut butter were all-American, but they offered kids a taste of outer space with no rocket required. Chocolate itself had already made its way into orbit in the early 1960s. Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut who brought it into space, proving that even sweet treats could make the journey. The popularity of these snacks reflected the nation's obsession with astronauts and exploration, placing them alongside a wave of other space-inspired food experiments. Even iconic brands jumped into orbit, like Coca-Cola, which produced the first soda to go to space after an ambitious mission to prove soft drinks could be enjoyed in zero gravity. Read more: Canned Ham Brands Ranked From Worst To Best From Orbit To The Snack Aisle As Space Food Sticks faded into the darkness of space exploration lore, novelty snacks like freeze-dried ice cream and strawberries captured the public imagination, even if they rarely flew in spacecraft. First introduced to museum gift shops in the mid-1970s, the crunchy Neapolitan treat was created for the NASA Apollo 7 mission. However, it's not clear if the product was actually used in that capacity. Smithsonian space history curator Jennifer Levasseur explained that the astronauts might have had "a chance to try it out before the mission to see if they liked it." Her own experience tasting the chalky snack led her to claim it was "like eating foam." Despite never actually becoming standard astronaut fare (the International Space Station received freezers for real ice cream in 2006), it has cemented its place in pop culture. It continues to sell in the gift shops of places like the Kennedy Space Center, even decades later. The fascination with space-themed eats may have started with food sticks, but didn't end with ice cream. Even today, NASA continues to experiment with food and snacks designed for actual missions, like this seven-ingredient space salad — full of nutrients and free of dressing that they hope to one day grow entirely in orbit. Space food may have evolved since we first landed on the moon, but its legacy still fuels curiosity and snack cravings across the galaxy. Read the original article on Mashed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This Government-Funded Snack From The '60s Was Originally Made For Astronauts
Back when going to the moon was the world's hottest topic, companies were doing whatever they could to get a piece of the pie. Brands were sending their products straight to space, and customers were eating it up. Omega debuted a watch fit for spacewalkers, and Tang pushed advertisements for space-approved soda, but Pillsbury — under contract with the U.S. government — was more focused on the astronauts heading to the stars than the consumers on the ground. Pillsbury was tasked with creating the first space-safe solid food by none other than the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute of the United States Armed Forces in the early '60s. The company started with teeny condensed food cubes, which were chowed down by NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter on the Aurora 7 in the summer of 1962. A few years later, NASA had another assignment for Pillsbury: create an energizing snack that could fit through an astronaut's helmet. The airtight suits didn't make it easy, but Pillsbury delivered with Space Food Sticks. The nutrient-packed snack was like a chewy chocolate power bar squeezed into a thin tube, which made it a hit for not just astronauts but growing kids everywhere. Before it was a popular lunchbox snack, Space Food Sticks accompanied Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong to the moon in 1969. Read more: 15 Vintage Snacks No One Remembers Anymore The energizing snack may have been made exclusively for astronauts, but it was a far bigger hit on Earth. Early advertisements for Space Food Sticks declared they were "developed by Pillsbury under a government contract, in support of the U.S. aerospace program" — but that language didn't last long. Into the next decade, Pillsbury began running ad campaigns for the astronaut-endorsed snack, but more geared towards Earthbound folks. The concept of Space Food Sticks integrated seamlessly with the other space-themed commercials of the time, making them an instant sensation. In later ads, Pillsbury kept it simple, labeling Space Food Sticks as a "balanced nutrition snack." Buzz and Armstrong only got a taste of the original chocolate flavor, but Pillsbury introduced dozens of other varieties over the years. Each flavor seemed to hang onto the "chewy" descriptor, with added flavors like peanut butter, orange, caramel, and chocolate mint. There are dozens of vintage snacks that no one really remembers anymore, but Space Food Sticks should never be forgotten. Only a few years after they were introduced, Pillsbury dropped the word "space" from the label, shortening them to just Food Sticks, but the legacy lives on. Read the original article on Tasting Table.
