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Feast Your Eyes: A Day in the Life of a NASA Space Food Scientist

Dealing with crumbs in zero gravity and developing hydroponic crops for Mars: NASA's food scientists discuss the challenges of developing space food.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wAC-ST77Ow

This short video shows Michele Perchonok, Advanced Food Technology Manager at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and members of the food science team in Houston, Texas, as they develop astronaut food in the Space Food Systems Laboratory.


It was produced as a PR piece by the Institute of Food Technologists, a food science nonprofit, so the tone is definitely celebratory, but the scientists share some fascinating insights into the challenges of space food design—crumbs in zero-gravity, altered olfaction, and package off-gassing, to name just a few. It's worth a watch for the shots of astronauts chasing chocolate-covered raisins around the space shuttle alone!

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