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The International Space Station (ISS) has been continuously crewed for more than 2 years. One of the major systems for crew health, performance and psychological support is the food system. This paper documents the mechanics of implementation for the ISS food system, with emphasis on the U.S. portion of that system, and also provides some performance feedback received from the first 5 increment crews. Menu composition and planning, food stowage, on orbit preparation, shipments, and inventory control are also described.

The Shuttle/Mir food system was based on a plan that included 50% U.S. food and 50% Russian food. Using inputs from crew evaluations, nutritional requirements, and analytical data, menus for each Long Duration Mission (LDM) were developed by the U.S. and Russian food specialists. The cosmonaut’ planned menus were identical while the astronaut’s menu differed slightly, based on personal preferences. Bonus food containers of astronaut’s favorite foods were provided to increase variety. Six out of 7 astronauts reported that the menu plan was seldom, if ever, followed. Five out of 7 astronauts ate most of their meals with the other crew members. In most cases, the bonus food containers were not opened until near the end of the mission. All crew members emphasized that variety was critical and that the use of Mir and Shuttle food together added a unique variety to the food system. Three of the 7 Mir astronauts lost significant weight during their stay on Mir.

In preparation for the 21st Century, NASA Johnson Space Center is designing and building a habitat (Bio-Plex) intended for use in long duration missions where all life support systems will be recycled and reused. Crops grown on-board will be used for air and water recycling and also serve as a food source. Space food development for Bio-Plex marks a departure from previous NASA missions yet some basic principles still apply. The differences and similarities will be discussed. The United States space food program has progressed from tubes and cubes in the earlier years to eating familiar food from open containers using normal utensils. All space food development problems include weight and volume restrictions, nutrition, crew acceptability and consumption, and management of food generated waste. To date, food for spaceflight has been carried onboard or delivered in space. Preparation has been limited to rehydration and heating to serving temperature.

Food provisioning for long duration space missions and long term planet surface habitation is influenced by many factors. These factors interact with one another and impose requirements on other subsystems within a space vehicle or planet surface habitat. The emphasis behind an effective food provisioning program is to maintain the psychological and physiological well-being of the crew over the entire mission duration. Human behavior is influenced by the quality, quantity and type of systems and activities found in a person's environment. The environment found in long duration space missions is very forbidding, hostile and highly stressful for humans over long periods of time.

This paper summarizes the specification requirements for the Space Station Food System, and describes the system that is being designed and developed to meet those requirements. Space Station Freedom will provide a mix of frozen, refrigerated, rehydratable, and shelf stable foods. The crew will pre-select preferred foods from an approved list, to the extent that proper nutrition balance is maintained. A galley with freezers, refrigerators, trash compactor, and combination microwave and convection ovens will improve crew efficiency and productivity during the long Space Station Freedom (SSF) missions.

A team of engineers and food scientists from NASA, the aerospace industry, food companies, and academia are defining the Space Station Food System. The team identified the system requirements based on an analysis of past and current space food systems, food systems from isolated environment communities that resemble Space Station, and the projected Space Station parameters. The team is resolving conflicts among requirements through the use of trade-off analyses. The requirements will give rise to a set of specifications which, in turn, will be used to produce concepts. Concept verification will include testing of prototypes, both in 1-g and microgravity. The end-item specification provides an overall guide for assembling a functional food system for Space Station.