Forbidden to eat bread in space. One more negative for astronauts, who must get used to the rule by The NASA and other aerospace agencies. But what is the reason?
if we saw that they can’t drink alcohol due to issues of equipment protection and responsibility at the time of work, It seems incomprehensible that there is a similar motive with bread.
This basic food in the traditional diet in much of the world is, as we all know, a baked dough made from cereal flour, water and salt. It is made with wheat flour, but also with rye, barley, corn and rice, according to the taste of each person.
But, what is the reason why bread is prohibited for astronauts in space?
The mischief of two astronauts with their diet in space
It all goes back to 1965, the Gemini 3 mission. It was the first in which the United States took two astronauts into space, in this case John Young and Gus Grissom.
The Americans were under pressure to meet the target, as the Soviets had achieved it a week earlier. Thus, on March 23, 1965, Young and Grissom reached space.
Every space mission had its scheduled food, but it was somewhat bland. Thus, Young came up with the idea of bringing a corned beef sandwich, purchased at Wolfie’s Restaurant and Sandwich Shop, in the Ramada Inn in Florida.
Young put the bread in one of his pockets and took it out when he was already in orbit. “I didn’t think it was a big deal” said the astronaut in his memoirs, cited by Space.
The problem is that, when taking a bite, rye bread crumbs started floating all over the cabin!
The 30 million dollar bread
Grissom tried Young’s sandwich, but quickly put it away again. The moment of tension, with all the crumbs flying thanks to the absence of gravity in space, lasted a few minutes.
Nevertheless, it was enough for the Committee on Appropriations of the United States House of Representatives to summon the astronauts upon their return to Earth. A member of Congress called him “a 30 million dollar sandwich”, since the crumbs were able to interfere with the operations of the spacecraft.
to the very James Webb, The then administrator of NASA, whose name today is carried by the agency’s state-of-the-art space telescope, had to testify in the process.
Since then, bread is prohibited on NASA space missions. Instead, astronauts use tortillas, according to The Franklin Institute.
“The space program has long avoided bread, as it often lacks the structure and shelf life needed to function as a space food,” explains the institute.
