Astronauts Bake Cookies In Experimental Oven In Space

Consuming and creating food onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is a huge hassle, which is why astronauts need regular restocking done by resupply rockets.

A new endeavor may not only help astronauts bake their own food in space but also create hope for a self-sustaining ISS. U.S. astronaut Christina Koch and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano have created the first space-baked chocolate chip cookies.

Koch posted a picture of the cookies on her Twitter account in December and now they have landed at a Houston-based laboratory, courtesy SpaceX.

"We made space cookies and milk for Santa this year. Happy holidays from the @Space_Station!" Koch tweeted.

The cookies have been made in a zero-gravity oven and required two hours of baking time, compared to twenty minutes, that it takes on earth. We don’t how they taste yet since they have been frozen at a Houston-based laboratory.

The cookies are the first food baked in space using raw ingredients.

The difference in baking time is something worth pondering. The first cookie they baked in the oven by master baker Parmitano for 25 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, ended up under baked. He then kept on doubling the baking time, till he finally got properly cooked cookies.

“So this time, I do see some browning. I can't tell you whether it's cooked all the way or not, but it certainly doesn't look like cookie dough anymore," Parmitano radioed to Houston.

"There's still a lot to look into to figure out really what's driving that difference, but definitely a cool result. Overall, I think it's a pretty awesome first experiment," Mary Murphy, manager at Texas-based Nanoracks, told Phys.org. Nanoracks designed the Zero-G oven, which was sent to the ISS last November.

If the experiment is successful and more such food can be baked in space, it will provide astronauts a respite from dehydrated and pre-packaged food.