In 2003, China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou-5 flew into space. Also from that year onwards, China's exploration of astronaut food began to enter the public view. Over several space journeys during the 10 years, the astronauts' recipe improved its quality, from the original fast food such as dim sum to today's customized choices.
Dessert and coffee
◎ Quantity of food: 30 kinds
◎ Launch time: October 15, 2003
Yang Liwei is China's first astronaut who went into the space, so what food he was carrying is worth exploring. It is reported that he only brought some fast food that neither need heating nor adding water.
During more than 20 hours in the space, Yang Liwei mainly took desserts and coffee. Coated with a protective edible film, the food was convenient and left no crumbs. They will not produce food debris floating in the cabin, and did not require utensils. It is reported that the snack contained about 20 kinds of raw materials, and the production process was relatively complicated.
Hot meals in space
◎ Quantity of food: 40 to 50 kinds
◎ Launch time : October 12, 2005
Shenzhou-6 crews are luckier when it comes to astronaut food, because they can eat hot meals, and food choices also increased to 40 to 50 kinds. For staple food, there were four varieties: white rice, eight-treasure rice pudding, curry rice and glutinous rice. Astronauts can choose different food every day, and there was freeze-dried chocolate ice cream, with three kinds of sauce: spicy, sour and sweet.
Drinking water for Shenzhou-6 astronauts was pumped groundwater from more than 1,700 meters underground, and then after silver ion disinfection, and finally canned. It is reported that Shenzhou-6 crew have so many choices , from cans, rehydrated vegetables, dried fruit, pastries, staple food, to beverages, even the kung pao chicken, beef balls, and braised pork in soy sauce were on board.
Seasoning according to the preferences
◎ Food quantity: Nearly 80 kinds
◎ Launch time: September 25, 2008
Food for Shenzhou-7 did not change much from that of Shenzhou-6, but choices significantly increased from more than 40 kinds to nearly 80 kinds. In addition, the astronauts can choose flavors of spices, adding sour, spicy or salty to the meal.
There is no obvious difference in astronauts' way of eating in space and on the ground. Food is in soft packaging, and packaged rice and vegetables can be put in a heater. Astronauts use a spoon and fork to take food out and eat from dish. But they need to be extra careful, if taking too much food, or if astronauts use too much force during meal, rice and stir-fried vegetables might drift away.
Four days with different food choices
◎ Quantity of food: At least 80 kinds
◎ Launch time: June 16, 2012
The kitchen of Shenzhou-9 stored at least 80 kinds of food; astronauts eat different types of meals every day. These mainly included staple food, side dishes, condiments, beverages and other categories. Shenzhou-9 astronauts can eat fried rice three meals a day. In addition to the staple food, dishes like black pepper beef, pickled cabbage and shredded pork were also on astronauts' menu. In addition, there were other quite delicate side dishes.
There may be a temporary degrading of taste for astronauts in a weightless environment. In order to avoid tastes change, Shenzhou-9 also offered a variety of condiments such as pork sauce and Sichuan pepper sauce. To prevent the feeling boring, astronauts' recipes changed every four days. In other words, the astronauts will not eat same kind of food in four days.
Customized food
◎ Quantity of food: Not released
◎ Launch time: June 11, 2013
The biggest difference with the previous astronaut food is that Shenzhou-10 crew can enjoy customized food, and they also have red bean glutinous rice pudding, fresh fruits, millet gruel, yogurt and so on. Shenzhou-10 has one more choice for sauces than Shenzhou-9. Shenzhou-10 brought seafood sauce, pork sauce, Sichuan pepper sauce, tomato sauce and Thai sweet sauce into space. Shenzhou-10 sauces are based on three astronauts' tastes.
On the packaging, last year's sauce packaging was similar to instant noodle packaging, and each bag was disposable. This year's package looks like toothpaste, the sauce cannot spray and it's easy to store.
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