World’s first ‘space cookies’ baked by Nasa astronauts in experimental oven sent by Elon Musk
THE first ever cookie has been baked in space.
'Space cake' usually refers to a baked good infused with cannabis but astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have now given it a whole new meaning.
Commander Luca Parmitano and astronaut Christina Koch were able to make space cookies using using a special oven that was sent up by one of Elon Musk's spacecrafts.
Each cookie was baked individually to try and determine the most accurate temperature for cooking sweet treats on the ISS.
The astronauts were given five raw cookies and told to bake them at different temperatures in the new space oven contraption.
The first four were cooked at 148C (298F) and the fifth was baked at 163C (325F).
The first cookie was put in the oven for 25 minutes and was still under-cooked.
The astronauts also tried baking cookies for 27 minutes, 120 minutes and 130 minutes.
They deemed the latter two options as the most successful if they were given a cooling time between 10 to 25 minutes.
At first the astronauts thought the cookies would turn into a spherical shapes but they stayed looking similar to how cookies look on Earth.
The big question on everyone's lips is "how do they taste?" but unfortunately no one knows.
Three of the cookies are back on Earth but have remained sealed in their space flight container.
They arrived back on our planet with other cargo on the SpaceXDragon spacecraft earlier this month.
Mary Murphy, senior internal payloads manager at NanoRacks, which designed the oven, said: "While we have initial visual and scent feedback from the crew aboard the ISS, we’re excited to dive into fully understanding the baking results."
The sweet treats will now be tested by food science professionals.
It's hoped that the experiment will help scientists move forward in the quest to make long-duration space travel a more pleasant experience.
Microgravity in space means a conventional oven would never work because cycles of hot air would not flow evenly.
NanoRacks collaborated with Zero G Kitchen to design the space oven.
It has heating elements around the whole of the interior so that even cooking is possible.
Hotel chain DoubleTree by Hilton provided the cookie dough for the experiment.
It's supposedly the same dough used to make the cookies given to DoubleTree by Hilton guests.
Shawn McAteer, senior vice-president and global head at DoubleTree by Hilton, said: "The innovation displayed throughout this experiment and emphasis on making long-duration space travel more hospitable underscores our ongoing commitment to ensuring guests always have a comfortable stay, wherever they may travel."
What is the ISS?
Here's what you need to know about the International Space Station...
- The International Space Station, often abbreviated to ISS, is a large space craft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the station to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
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Would you eat a space cookie? Let us know in the comments...
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