Comments on: Apollo 10 space-a-versary: Space Meal, 1969

By: JamesA

JamesA — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:35:00 +0000

My mom worked for United Technology as secretary to the corporate counsel; they left together with some other staff to form Vivonex, in Mountain View, CA. to produce chemically defined diet, for astronauts and other rara avis.

The idea was, astronauts needed a low-residue [poop] regimen which would supply all the necessary nutrients.

I remember there was a Dr. Winitz who was one of the chief chemists, who gave my mom a vial of some concoction which was supposed to heal first-degree burns.

I can testify, having gotten a severe sunburn, and having been anointed with Dr. Winitz’ Snake Oil, that it really did work. I think he turned out to be some kind of flim-flam man, there was some scandal…

Vivonex purchased their ingredients from Aji No Moto, I saw big cardboard drums of the stuff all around there.

Of course, there was no big demand for the stuff, and low residue has its own problems.

By: pjcamp

pjcamp — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:33:00 +0000

You used to be able to get this stuff out of vending machines in Huntsville. Tasted like freeze dried crap. I’d rather carry a ton of jerky and deal with the hypertension and constipation later.

Which brings up another point. If you knew how astronaut bathrooms worked, you’d view constipation as a feature, not a bug. Let’s put it this way. The whole spacesuit was made by Playtex with the exception of one component, which was made by Kimberly-Clark.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:39:00 +0000

I think that “space food” like this gave a big boost to the old sci-fi trope of food-in-pill-form. I would gladly have eaten this sort of stuff for a week if I’d gotten a moon trip out of it, although as I’ve gotten older I’ve certainly come to appreciate the benefits of roughage, if you catch my drift.

By: sam1148

sam1148 — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:28:00 +0000

I’m not sure, but lots of old school pro photography test/archival shots used color charts. Probably to help with developing the print by hand so you had a baseline consistency from roll to roll of film. I’ve seen them in prints of movie stars and fashion models. Sometimes prints would color shift over time and age. I’m sure you’ve seen some old photos that have shifted towards red or blue.

By: anansi133

anansi133 — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Is the color chart supposed to ensure that the meal looks as good in the picture as it does in real life?