Enjoy An 'All-American Meal' With Astronauts Today

Four astronauts aboard a 30-year-old spacecraft are inviting you and your kids to dinner. Right now, they are busy unloading supplies at the International Space station but on Thursday, July 14, they’ll be dining on grilled chicken, barbecue brisket, baked beans and southwestern corn. And you can virtually join them!

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is making its final journey to space with a year's worth of critical supplies for the International Space Station.  It’s the 135th shuttle mission overall making it a pretty incredible time to get the kids interested in space travel.

Food scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have prepared a special "All-American Meal" for the astronauts to eat on July 14. For the special space recipes or "formulations" as they are called by NASA food scientists, you can visit: http://go.nasa.gov/AllAmericanMeal

The idea is you eat what they're having (except our version won't come in small plastic bags).

In order to eat food in space, special preparations and consideration must be made. I found these fun facts on NASA's site.

Flour tortillas are a favorite bread item of shuttle astronauts. Tortillas provide an easy and acceptable solution to the bread-crumb and microgravity-handling problem, and have been used since 1985.

Beverages come in powdered form and include coffee, tea, apple cider, orange juice and lemonade. The beverage package is made from a foil laminate to provide maximum barrier properties for a longer product shelf life. A septum adapter is sealed in the package after the beverage powder has been added. The septum adapter holds a septum that interfaces with the galley water dispenser for the addition of water and with a straw for drinking the beverage.

Foods are individually packaged and stowed for easy handling in microgravity. All food is precooked or processed so it requires no refrigeration and is either ready to eat or can be prepared simply by adding water or by heating. The only exceptions are the fresh fruit and vegetables. Without refrigeration, the fresh foods must be eaten within the first few days of the flight or they will spoil.

NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage of the mission. NASA TV features live mission events, daily status news conferences and 24-hour commentary. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

My kids thinks it pretty cool to look up into the night sky and think about some astronauts way up in the distance. This cool program by NASA makes them seem a bit closer.