251 Space Cheese

heesy and Fondue learn about cheese in space. We talk about cheese on missions like Apollo, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station and Artemis II. We learn about a $750,000 Mars space food challenge and we talk about 3D printed cheese. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

Find us at www.justcheesy.com and everywhere you enjoy social media! https://linktr.ee/JustCheesy

Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

Freeze dried cheese

https://freezedryinc.com/product/space-cheese/

https://mooncheese.com

cheese that has traveled to space

https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/foods-for-extreme-environments/

https://www.discovermagazine.com/a-giant-leap-for-cheddarkind-brits-launch-cheese-into-space-28713

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/space-food-macaroni-and-cheese-sts-27/nasm_A19890318000

https://www.flandersdairyproducts.com/en/news/belgian-cheese-into-space

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/space-food-cheese-cracker-cubes-apollo-blue/nasm_A19990247000

https://www.eater.com/2011/12/15/6629369/dutch-astronaut-to-bring-cheese-to-space-station-party

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacex-space-cheese

https://www.npr.org/2010/12/10/131955636/Last-Word

https://www.space.com/10459-wheel-cheese-launched-space-private-spacecraft.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brou%C3%A8re

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_Shop_sketch

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/astronaut-space-food-moon-mars

https://tastewise.io/blog/space-food-trends

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/the-menu-for-mars-designing-a-deep-space-food-system/

https://www.nasa.gov/prizes-challenges-and-crowdsourcing/marstotable/

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-program/nasa-challenge-winners-cook/

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-study-to-analyze-fermented-food-samples-from-space/

https://www.cas.org/resources/cas-insights/space-food-artemis

Mentioned in this episode:

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'retalking all about cheese in space.
We're going to talk aboutcheese on missions like Apollo, the
space shuttle, the spacestation, and Artemis 2. We're going

(00:23):
to learn about a $750,000 MarsSpace Food Challenge and 3D printed
cheese.
3D printed.
And we're going to tell acheesy joke. Stay tun. Episode Space
Cheese on Just Cheesy thepodcast. On December 8, 2010, according
to CNN, SpaceX launched itsfirst Dragon spacecraft with a secret

(00:43):
payload, a wheel of cheese.The cheese was called oh, boy, here
we go. La Bruyere, a Frenchcheese similar to Gruyere, and it
was made in wooden molds byartisans. According to Wikipedia,
a typical wheel is about 43centimeters in diameter, and it weighs
about 12 kilograms, or 25pounds. W sealed it in a metal container

(01:05):
bolted to the floor of the capsule.
Whoa.
This metal cylinder bolted tothe floor was marked top secret,
and a picture of a cow wearinggaloshes was put on top. According
to NPR and Atlas Obscura, thecheese was a tribute to Monty Python.
Cheese Shop sketch in whichJohn Cleese attempts to order cheese
from a shop that has nocheese. They say the capsule came

(01:27):
back down in the Pacific Oceanand the cheese was towed back to
California on a barge. Okay.The spokeswoman for SpaceX was basking
in the glow of being the firstcheese to travel to orbit on a commercial
spacecraft. Just like KatyPerry, this is nothing at all compared
to what it takes to get cheeseto the space station.
Really?
According to Science Friday,food headed to the ISS has to have

(01:50):
a shelf life of at least one year.
One year?
Each package is flushed withnitrogen gas at least three times
before the vacuum seal goes on.
Three times.
That action removes all theoxygen, which is what would otherwise
degrade the food or letbacteria grow. Rehydratable food
goes through a process calledthermostabilization. And this is
when it's heated to a specifictemperature to kill off microorganisms

(02:13):
and destroy the enzymes thatbreak the food down.
Wow.
It's not like they plan thisstuff, really, in a couple days.
This takes five months of planning.
Five months.
The astronauts get to choosetheir meals from a list of about
200 items. The scientists atNASA's Space Food Systems Lab at
Johnson Space center checkthat the selections actually meet

(02:36):
each astronaut's nutritional needs.
Oh, yeah.
Dietitians are Used to buildthe menus. And it comes in about
1900 to 3200 calories a day,depending on the astronaut.
Wow.
They say there's a permanenteight day rotating menu of three
meals and a snack per day. Themenu includes stuff like Mac and
cheese, chili, shrimpcocktail, borscht, kung pao chicken

(02:56):
and sushi.
Wow.
And of course, because it'sspace, there's a big rule about crumbs.
There is.
It sounds like crumbs are bad news.
Oh, boy.
Apparently, they float inmicrogravity and they can get into
equipment or even intosomebody's eyes. That's why NASA
sends tortillas chias insteadof bread.
That makes sense.
And that's why on the Apollomission, the cheese crackers were
made as compressed cubes thatyou could eat in one bite.

(03:18):
Whoa.
Cheese in space goes backpretty much to the beginning of the
space race. According to theSmithsonian National Air and Space
Museum, the Apollo programincluded compressed cheese cracker
cubes as snack foods. Theywere bite sized on purpose, like
we just found out, so thatastronauts could eat them straight
from a bag without crumbsfloating around the cabin.
Wow.
The packaging was a four plylaminated film, and that protected

(03:41):
the food from losing flavorand moisture, and it protected it
from spoiling.
Wow.
The Apollo astronauts gotthree meals a day totaling about
2,800 calories. And if youwant to see some of those snacks,
NASA actually moved some ofthose unused packages to the museum
in 1999.
Wow.

(04:47):
The Smithsonian museum is nota sponsor, but if they were, their
ad would go right here.According to the Smithsonian, the
shuttle era also had cheese. Aserving of Mac and cheese flew aboard
the shuttle Atlantis in 1988.And because there's no refrigerator
or freezer on board, Most ofthe food is process to be stored
at room temperature.
Okay.
The Mac and cheese wasdehydrated, Packaged in a plastic

(05:10):
container with an injection port.
Okay.
And the astronaut added waterfrom the galley station to make it
edible. According to Discovermagazine, A group of British cheese
makers wanted to send somecheddar into space. In 2009, the
West Country Farmhouse CheeseMakers attached a 300 gram wedge
of farmhouse cheddar to aweather balloon. They also attached
a GPS tracker, a digitalcamera, and they launched it from

(05:33):
wheelchair.
Okay.
Apparently the plan was forthe balloon to carry at 18.6 miles
up.
Holy cow.
It was supposed to burst intothin air and then let it parachute.
Bring the cheese safely backdown. Okay. But they say within 10
minutes of takeoff, thetracking system failed and the cheese
was gone.
Oh, no.
Shockingly, the cheese turnedup two days later. It landed in a

(05:54):
back garden inBuckinghamshire, less than 80 miles
from where it launched. And Iguess someone handed it to the police.
It was completely intact. Thecheesemakers were thrilled and said
they planned to enshrine thecheese at their headquarters. Can
you imagine cheese justfalling into your backyard in 2011?
According to Space.com, aDutch astronaut was launched to the

(06:15):
International Space Stationfor a five and a half month mission.
And apparently he didn't wantto go without cheese. This was not
his first mission. He had aprevious one in 2004.
Yeah.
And I guess he decided that ifhe was going to be up there for five
months, he was bringing some cheese.
Yeah.
So waiting for him when he gotto the space station was 5 kg of
Amsterdam cheese. And it wassent by a Dutch cheese maker. In

(06:39):
2021, an American astronautnamed Shannon Walker requested Belgian
cheese for her stay aboard theiss. The astronauts are allowed to
submit a wish list, and hersincluded aged cheese from a family
cheese factory in Belgium.
Whoa.
NASA ordered a large portion.They ran it through quality and food
safety testing, and the cheesepassed. And it went to space.

(06:59):
Nice.
And like we said earlier, NASALabs has developed foods for space
like Mac and cheese, barbecue,beef brisket, cherry cobbler, and
dozens of other items forastronauts. Yeah. And they're packed
for use in microgravity. And Iguess National Geographic said that
NASA recently discontinuedcheese grits after poor reviews.
Oh, no.
According to Tastewise, themenu from the 2026 Artemis 2 mission

(07:23):
is publicly available fromNASA. It includes 189 unique food
items for the cruise journeyaround the moon.
Nice.
The menu includes, of course,tortillas as a staple because. Crumbs.
It has five distinct hotsauces which are included because
fluid shifts in microgravityand it reduces the astronaut's ability
to taste good. So flavorintens, needs to be amplified.

(07:45):
That's interesting, right?
And then that got me towondering, will there actually be
cheese on Mars? If we go, willthere? Maybe.
Really?
According to NASA, the agencyis currently running a competition
called the Deep Space FoodChallenge. Mars to table.
Okay.
It has a prize of $750,000.They're asking innovators worldwide
to design complete foodsystems capable of sustaining a crew

(08:08):
on Mars. And this would beentirely without resupply from Earth.
The challenge concludes inSeptember of 2020. According to NASA,
a previous deep Space foodchallenge was won by Interstellar
Lab of Florida. They grewmicrogreens, vegetables and mushrooms
and insects for astronaut nutrition.
Ew.
But you're thinking, what if Iwanted to make cheese in space if

(08:31):
I went to Mars? Well,according to the CAS Science site,
cheese is already among themost common printable edible inks
used in 3D food printers. Thisis being developed for future missions
alongside things like mashedpotatoes, chocolate and cream 3D
printed. So the the cheesegoes in as a powder and it comes
out as whatever shape themission requires.

(08:53):
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay, why did cheese kick thecracker off the space station?
I don't know. Why?
Because it had a crummyattitude. Oh, get it? A crummy attitude.
That was funny.
Oh, that was good. And alittle bit cheesy. Thanks for listening
to Just Cheesy, the podcastepisode Space Cheese.

(09:14):
Thanks.
Check out our show notes wherewe have links to a couple of places
you can buy free freeze driedcheese so that you can act like an
astronaut.
Eat cheese like an astronaut.
Find [e-mail] orwherever you get your podcast.
And stay cheesy, everybody.