Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1961-05-12
Space Men Will Long
For Earth Cooking
BY JOY MILLER

BN Jul MfLfEn
NEW YORK (AP)-Most aspects
OF space travel are still up in the
air. But one thing is certain: The
men will never be called CASTRO
nauts.
The food they'll get on a 14-day
jaunt to the mOOn-and that's ex-
pected to come about 1965-will
send them back to the Earth CRATE
full for overdone steak and scorch-
ed potatoes.
Therell be no point in packing
a basket lunch for them. Ii would
only float around in the cabin,
while the knives for slicing the
tomatoes would be a real menace
to crew and spaceship walls.
How do you cope with the prob
lem of weightlessness? With scien-
tific fOrethought the WADD of the
USAFss ARDC Chats the Wright
Air Forces Air Research and De-
velopment CommandD awarded a
contract to a home appliance firm
to design and build space kitchen.
Space Kitchen Plan
And this is the way it will work,
according to the June issue of
Space World:
The kitchen, approximately 10 fl.
long by Z IL feet in diameter, in
the forward section of a multi-stage
booster. would contain a small re-
frigerator plus deep-freeze compaT-
tment (run by a thermoelectric
unit, a three cavity oven and a
built in water system of 1-2 gal.
capacity with a heater to provide
hot water as needed.
But none of the appliances will
be used as they would be on earth.
Mostly they're used for dispen-
sing, not preparing. Snack items
such as candy and nuts will be
available. but most actual food,
will be in preprOcessed or. deny
drafted form. And they'll come eth
er in big squeeze tubes or cans.
Strapped-in Supper
After the astrOnaut selects his
meal he puts the containers re-
quiring heat in the oven. Within
80 minutes the food will be warm
ed to IT'S degrees.
TUT lHEIt
pressure pump within an air-free
water system the pilot can operate
manually with one hand while he
holds on to a support bar with
the other. That's because water
doesn't behave at zero gravity as
ii does under normal circumstances
To eat canned foods, the astro-
naut puts a mOuthpiece on each
container then places il in a squee-
re type device, that forces the food
out of the cOntainer into his mouth.
On pliable tubes of food normal
hand pressure will do the job.
And all this is done while the
containers are snapped into hold
ers and the astrouaut is strapped
10 a seat to keep from floating
around.
They Want IL Honey
After he's eaten, he'll wash the
mouthpiece with antiseptic
cloths. Food waste can be put in
self-sealing bins and sprayed with
a solution to retard bacteria.
For psychological reasons the kit
chen will look as honey as the
designers can make IL. But the ever
present coffee pot is out, for one
thing. Coffee is dispensed from a
hidden lightweight unit within the
feeding console.
Watch That WaistIine
Says John Rublowsky. the mag
azine's editor: THE food will be
carefully chosen so as to hold
indigestion to a minimum. Bicarh
might be dangerous, you know, its
a gas"
There's always the prospect you
will get fat faster. I'VE use Galleries
just lifting our arms" points out
Rublowsky. "Weightlessness will
cut rs per cent of our energy ex-
penditure"
Maybe by the time they need 1t
900-calorie concentrates will come
in tubes.