Artemis 2 Astronauts Pack 189 Foods for Moon Mission

When four astronauts blast off toward the moon on April 1, they'll be eating better than any lunar travelers in history.

NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen will have 189 different food and drink items aboard their Orion spacecraft. The menu includes tortillas, five types of hot sauce, pudding, cobbler, cake, chocolate, cookies, and more than 10 different beverages including coffee for the caffeine lovers.

Getting the menu right took careful planning. The crew sampled and rated every food option during preflight testing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, balancing their personal preferences with nutritional needs and what the spacecraft can handle.

Orion doesn't have a fridge or stove, so everything must store safely for weeks and prepare quickly. The astronauts will use a portable water dispenser to rehydrate freeze dried meals and a compact briefcase style food warmer to heat dishes as needed. The foods must also produce few crumbs and work well in microgravity.

The menu changes based on what Orion is doing. During launch and landing, when the water dispenser isn't available, astronauts can only eat ready to eat items. Once systems are fully operational, they'll have access to the complete menu with freeze dried meals requiring hydration.

NASA packed food smartly into containers holding two to three days worth of meals. This lets astronauts choose from several options without opening multiple boxes, giving them variety throughout the journey.

The menu represents a huge leap from what Apollo astronauts ate during the last moon missions in 1972. Space food science has advanced dramatically, though Artemis 2 can't match the International Space Station's variety since that orbiting lab has refrigeration and regular resupply ships bringing fresh fruit and vegetables.

Why This Inspires

Koch, who spent nearly a year on the space station, said she's impressed by the variety of entrees that can be rehydrated and taste good in space. Hansen emphasized that mealtimes give the crew precious moments to come together as a community during their packed schedule of testing equipment and making lunar observations.

The mission shows that even 240,000 miles from Earth, humans can still enjoy good food and companionship around the dinner table.