[Gemini & Apollo]

Directly from the Estate of Chuck Friedlander, NASA

A COLLECTION OF EARLY NASA ASTRONAUT MEALS 

Gemini-era food was usually freeze-dried before flight. An astronaut would insert a probe into the valve at the end of the packaging and insert water. The astronaut meal plan for the Gemini IV mission featured a four day cycle menu of four meals per day, totaling 2,550 calories. The crew consumed an average of 2100 calories per day in flight. Gemini V used a 3 day cycle of 3 meals a day, though the average caloric intake ended up at a much lower average of roughly 1,000 calories. These early studies were important as NASA figured out how to sustain crews on longer missions to reach the Moon.  

This lot comes from the estate of Charles “Chuck” Friedlander, Chief of the NASA Astronaut Support Office, KSC from 1963-1967. Chuck Friedlander has labelled and signed one packet:  

“New” Apollo (TYPE) Type- food better than Mercury – Gemini can eat with spoon crew (astronauts) would select menu in advance – I would order these - they would try them in crew qtrs. at the cape – then we’d select light meals. C FRIEDLANDER.”   

This inscription relates the process through which the Apollo astronauts would select what they’d be eating in space. As technology advanced to put astronauts on the Moon, so did the technology behind what and how they ate. As Friedlander inscribes, the Apollo type food was an improvement over the Gemini and Mercury options available before. 

Chuck Friedlander notes in his audio diaries that there was a scare during spacesuit training and systems tests relayed to him by Gemini XI Commander Pete Conrad. What was suspected to be a lithium hydroxide or suspected toxic agent inside an astronaut’s suit during training was determined to be a false alarm. Instead, it was Tang that had gotten into a suit fan system. Given the publicity around Tang and its association with the Gemini astronauts in magazines and on television, NASA decided not to publicly announce the incident. 

GEMINI and APOLLO era space food is rare to market as it was designed to be consumed or jettisoned. The sealed plastic, inspection numbers, and velcro indicate that this could have been used for training or for potential flight use. One food packet with outer bag marked "Day-11, Meal B" may have been an unused meal from the Gemini VII mission, which lasted almost 14 days. The variety in the present lot, with its remarkable provenance of a key member in shaping astronauts’ experience on missions, offers an unusual look into life in the space age.