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The NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center at Iowa State University was founded in August 1999 and it has the mission to engage industry and academia to develop food products and processes which will benefit NASA and the public. The specific objectives are: (1) to develop food products that meet the shelf life requirements for Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and planetary outpost which are nine months, one year, and five years, respectively; (2) develop equipment and process technologies to convert the proposed 15 crops grown on planetary outpost, Moon or Mars, into safe, edible foods; (3) build partnerships with food companies to develop these new food products and processes to make them available for NASA utilization.

In preparation for future planetary exploration, NASA-Johnson Space Center has developed a critical path plan for food and nutrition research needs. The plan highlights the risk factors pertaining to food and nutrition associated with exposure to the space flight environment as well as the possible consequences if no corrective measures are implemented. Included in the plan are the initiating events such as microgravity, remote environment and mission duration, which obviously impact the risk factors. The plan includes points of intervention where mitigating factors can be implemented to avoid outcomes such as malnutrition and unsafe foods. Physiological changes induced by lack of gravity, as well as increased exposure to radiation, may alter nutrient bio-availability and/or nutrient requirements. An inadequate food system, whether due to technical limitations or nutritional shortcomings, can result in serious consequences.