Last December, astronauts on the International Space Station, orbiting high above Earth, baked in space for the first time. Their food of choice: chocolate chip cookies!
The crew cooked the treats in an oven specially designed for a microgravity environment. Objects aboard the ISS experience near weightlessness because the downward pull of gravity is much weaker in space than on Earth. To prevent the cookies— and wayward crumbs—from floating during baking, the dough for each was placed inside a rectangular plastic sleeve, which was then slid into a compartment in the oven.
Being able to prepare familiar foods can make long space journeys more tolerable, says Abby Dickes, marketing director at Nanoracks, the company that engineered the oven. “The astronauts were so happy!”