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Astronauts bake first cookies in space
WASHINGTON, Jan 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Astronauts on the International Space
Station have baked the first cookies in space, but they took far longer than
on Earth.
The space station’s Italian commander Luca Parmitano acted as baker aided
by NASA astronaut Christina Koch for the chocolate-chip cookie experiment.
Cookies take around 15-20 minutes to bake on Earth but the astronauts
discovered that their most successful efforts required at least two hours in
the oven in space. The first and second cookies were in the oven for 25
minutes and 75 minutes but were still under-baked.
The best results came from 120 and 130 minutes in the oven.
“We made space cookies and milk for Santa this year,” Koch tweeted.
The prototype oven which can be used in microgravity was designed and
built by Nanoracks and Zero G Kitchen while the Double Tree by Hilton hotel
chain supplied the raw cookie dough.
“The ISS smelled like fresh chocolate chip cookies when @astro_luca opened
the oven door! Just like home!” Nanoracks tweeted.
“While we have initial visual and scent feedback from the crew aboard the
ISS, we’re excited to dive into fully understanding the baking results —
including breaking down why the bake time and temperature in space varies
from what we are used to seeing on Earth,” Mary Murphy, a Nanoracks payloads
manager, said in a statement from Hilton.
While the astronauts said they looked and smelled like cookies, no one has
tasted them.
Three of the cookies returned to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on
January 7 and will undergo testing by food scientists to determine if they
are edible.
“Currently on the International Space Station there’s really a limited
ability to prepare foods in ways that we’re used to,” Zero G Kitchen founder
Ian Fichtenbaum said in a video posted by Hilton.
“And now as longer duration space flight is more common you want to focus
on making space more comfortable,” added co-founder Jordana Fichtenbaum.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1633 hrs