When NASA was planning for space travel, they commissioned several different companies to come up with freeze-dried snacks that the astronauts could eat. Whirlpool Corporation came up with Neapolitan ice cream in a pouch.
Coconut fat, sugar, milk solids and other ingredients were freeze-dried, ground and compressed into tasty cubes that were then coated with a layer of gelatin. “Astronaut ice cream” only went on one space mission: the Apollo 7 crew took some with them during their 11-day orbit in 1968.
It turned out to be too crumbly to be practical as even the tiniest food flake can wreak havoc with equipment in a zero-gravity environment. By 1972 technology had improved to the point that astronauts aboard Skylab were able to enjoy real ice cream, and today the main consumers of astronaut ice cream are backpackers, hikers, and survivalists.
2 comments:
i eat ice cream in any form. this would pass my ice cream test.
I think it tastes pretty good- a good sweet treat. AND you don't get brain freeze!!!
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