Dehydrated space food

Four cheese cracker cubes, supplied as dehydrated space food by the NASA Apollo Programme.

How were astronauts fed in space in the late twentieth century? The volume and weight of food had to be a small as possible. There was no power available for cooking or refrigeration. The astronaut would eat the food in zero gravity, and there had to be no crumbs or spillage. Waste would have to be dealt with effectively.

Bite-sized snacks were designed to be eaten directly from their package, without the need for rehydrating with water. Snacks with a tendency to crumble, like these cheese cracker cubes, were dipped in a starch like substance that prevented crumbs but allowed the astronauts to dissolve the bites in their mouths.