Posted on 07/05/2018 5:25:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Lufthansa, Europe's largest airline, has begun serving some of its passengers one of the same menu items that it developed for German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who launched to the space station in June. The space food, now served at 35,000 feet in addition to 250 miles above the planet, is available to business class passengers on long-haul flights originating in Germany.
"Passengers will have the chance to enjoy one of the menus that Alexander Gerst and his crew will also be receiving on board [the station] as special highlights, chicken ragout with mushrooms," Lufthansa announced in a recent press release
The astronaut-turned-airline food will be available on flights in July and August.
On orbit, the ragout, along with dishes from Gerst's home region of Swabia in southwestern Germany — including maultaschen (stuffed pasta) and cheese spätzle (egg noodles) with bacon, are considered "bonus" foods, augmenting the daily menus available to the crew. Bonus meals are generally saved for special occasions, as a special treat during the crew's five to six month stays in space.
"We certainly want our astronauts to perform in an optimal manner, so we need to provide them support. One of the supports we provide is food," said Frank de Winne, the head of the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany and a former astronaut who logged almost 200 days in Earth orbit.
...
Lufthansa's limited time offer of astronaut food is the latest example of the space station's menu items being available to the public. Beyond the souvenir freeze-dried snacks sold in museum and science center gift shops, authentic cosmonaut cuisine has been sold in vending machines at Moscow's All-Russian Exhibition Center and Turin-based Argotec continues to offer through its website some of the same bonus foods that it developed for Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
They should expand the experience by replicating the Head on the Space Station.
Space food sticks
Wunderbar!
On overnight flights, will they serve Tang with breakfast?
The freeze dried ice cream was always pretty good. We used to buy the Neopolitan bars at the Air and Space museum...
https://www.shopnasa.com/collections/space-food/products/astronaut-neapolitan-ice-cream-sandwich
Still available for those in a vintage space mood:
http://www.oldtimecandy.com/walk-the-candy-aisle/space-food-sticks
How can this possibly be a good idea? Do their passengers really give a crap about what astronauts eat, or is Lufthansa’s service so wonderful that all the passenger’s needs are being met?
Hey wait a minute. Wasn’t this a Seinfeld episode?
Gimmick, near as I can tell. Cross-marketing.
At least it’s not the fish from Airplane!
Anna Kikina
Yelena Serova
Give me the lasagna.
Pan Am's is better.
The 3-man crew made their food selections during mission planning.
Once they got into orbit, Al noticed he was getting low on coffee. He asked David Scott and Jim Irwin if they had seen his coffee and they replied, "we've been drinking it."
One of them followed up, "we picked hot chocolate instead of coffee, but we got sick of it after a couple of days, so we made your coffee!"
Imagine, a pilot orbiting the moon with no coffee. Long ride home, I bet.
2001 Space Odyssey - Best film ‘eva!
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