To eat, the astronauts simply mixed water into the food. Packaging consisted of plastic tubes. The astronauts used straws to add the water. U.S. astronaut Sally Ride eats a meal aboard the shuttle Challenger. NASA Over the years, the food available to space travelers became more appetizing.
Many space vehicles have facilities for heating frozen and chilled food.
Water for drinking is an important requirement for a space mission. On space shuttles, devices called fuel cells produce pure water as they generate electricity for the spacecraft. On long missions, water must be recycled and reused as much as possible. Dehumidifiers remove moisture from exhaled air. On space stations, this water is usually reused for washing.