China National Space Administration / Reproduction
Chinese astronauts cooked grilled chicken wings and steak with black pepper. It was an event. Only possible thanks to a special oven.
It is not the first meal in Space. This occurred more than 60 years ago, more specifically in 1961, when the legendary Yuri Gagarin ate a tube of meat and liver paste, with a kind of chocolate sauce.
Time passed and, naturally, things evolved. Nowadays, on the International Space Station (ISS), there is already diversity in meals, there are freezers and even small kitchens up there. Menu: fresh fruits, sealed packages and foods that hydrate.
However, there had never been a… barbecue in Space. Or something roasted, or grilled, or shouted.
Until the Tiangong special station brought an oven and, about 400 kilometers from Earth, it was the stage for the first barbecue outside orbit.
Chinese astronauts cooked grilled chicken wings and black pepper steak.
It was an event. It was the first time that something was actually cooked in Space. Until now, it was “just” heating ready-made meals.
The special oven
The meal was prepared in a hot air oven specially developed to work in microgravityexplains to .
This unprecedented meal was only possible thanks to the special oven, delivered by the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft, which arrived in Tiangong the previous week. The oven is designed to operate safely and precisely in microgravity: keeps food stuckfirmly, preventing them from floating; and uses multi-layer filtration technology to eliminate smoke and odors.
“We use high-temperature catalysis and multi-layer filtration technologies to enable smoke-free cooking,” explains researcher Xian Yong, at .
“Given the special conditions in orbit, we ensured that the hot air furnace is completely reliable and safe. All parts of the furnace that astronauts can touch are always cold to avoid burns”, he detailed.
The temperature never exceeds 190 degrees. Food preparation delay longer than on Earth: the chicken wings took 28 minutes to become crispy.
Six astronauts enjoyed it and ate it. Nobody complained about the result.
Fire in Space
Lighting a fire in microgravity is a scientific innovation.
As flames, being in orbit, behave differentlyand create spheres instead of flames. Without gravity, there is no convection or upward flow of air, which makes it very difficult to control combustion and detect smoke.
This special oven from Tiangong is a “leap” in terms of engineering and safety: kitchen but there are no open flames that would endanger the confined environment of the station.
The Chinese oven is the first of its kind in the world.
Cooking your own food in space can help astronauts reduce stress and psychological isolation, two natural consequences of long stays in orbit.
