Kitchen For Space Travel Now Demonstrated

Press, Volume C, Issue 29674, 18 November 1961, Page 8

Kitchen For Space Travel Now Demonstrated

[From L. K. BLOXHAM, « Stag Reporter of "Th* Pres* 1 NEW YORK, November 6. ALTHOUGH the moon has no particular attraction for me at present, should I ever feel the urge for such a trip I have found the ideal kitchen for my rocket. It has everything—except the kitchen sink. I made the discovery during a visit the other day to the impressive Electra City display in the New York Coliseum, where a fully-equipped space kitchen was being demonstrated by a “space-man” complete in space-suit and helmet.

Designed to be contained within a circular cylinder about 7ft wide and 10ft long, the kitchen ha* its own foodstorage area*, a thermoelectrically operated freexer. a three-cavity heating oven, hot-water and cold-water system, wet and dry waste disposal sections, feeding implement*. food serving tray*, and even storage areas for chemically treated wa*hs nd-dry and wash-and-rinse towel*. But there was no sink.

“A spaceman will not have any dishes to worry about,” I was told, "so there's no need for a sink.” Why no knives or forks, pots or pan*? At *ero gravity, everything is weightlesn. Silverware and utensils would be useless and eould ever, prove dangerous. The slightest jolt would send them hurtling across the space kitchen and < being weightless) they would continue to bounce around until they were retrieved and secured. Water, too, at zero gravity does not behave a* it does on earth It will not pour out of a container—it has to be forced out. Legs In Harness The astronaut will be able to stop himself from flying away from hi* meal by locking his legs in a harness fas-

tened to a built-in kitchen stool; and his meal will be prevented from making any unscheduled flights by a ■ystem of spring clips and hinge*. To keep space crew-men from starving in a kitchen full of food, engineers and scientists had to develop a space eating process and design feeding devices for it. Aad when it’s time to dine, th* spaceman will not have to face the problem of “what to have” that frequently plagues the housewife: complete menu* for a 14-day outerspace mission have been planned by nutritionists. The food is varied and interesting, for although it would be possible to keep a crew nourished on a diet of pills, powders and liquidconcentrate for 14 days or longer, the chances of such a diet keeping them psyschologieally satisfied would be extremely remote. Even the most phlegmatic individual would probably soon become dissatisfied with daily dosages of such uninteresting fare. So the menu I watched being prepared consisted of apricot nectar. Swiss steak, buttered string beans, candied sweet potatoes, bread and butter, a beverage, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The spaceman showed how it was done. First, a polythene tube containing dehydrated

apricot nectar was removed from an overhead storage cupboard. To reconstitute it, he clipped the end off the sealed tube and filled it with about six ounce* of water, before placing th* container in the refrigerator to chill. To drink th* reconstituted

beverage, th* "astronaut** fixed a nozzle to on* end of the container and squeezed it as one would a tub* of toothpaste, and the liquid was thus forced directly into his mouth.

The Swiss steak, string beans and sweet potatoes were all tinned items. The first step taken by the demonstrator was to heat them to about 170 degrees F. (It is interesting to note at this stage that at half-atmosphere —the atmospheric pressure under which space flights will be conducted—water will boil at 178 degrees F.)

Food-Expelling Device Once heated, the cans of food were removed from th* oven and a cap at one end was replaced with a mechanical food-expelling device. Another cap at the opposite end was removed and a feeding nipple fastened in it* place. In "eating" from the solid containers, the demonstrator placed the nipple in his mouth and forced the food out by squeezing the ratchet handle of the expelling device. This direct “container-to-con-sumer" eating process may eliminate the need for cups and silverware —but personally, I think I will stick to knives and forks, even if it does mean I will be grounded! Besides, I prefer to see my steak in a nice juicy slab on my plate—not to suck it out of a can! Weighing only 818 lbs when completely stocked with food and liquid, the space kitchen is scheduled to undergo extensive ground testing at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio in the very near future.