
A unique product from a unique
time, Space Food Sticks are a living monument to golden years of the
Space Age. In the formative years of space travel, food represented a
major hurdle for NASA technicians. Keeping it fresh, tasty and safe
was tricky business.
Original Space Food Sticks ad
from 1970
The first brave souls who flew in
space (better known as "the guinea pigs") were given an
unappetizing choice—cubes covered with edible gelatin or semi-liquid
food puree squeezed out of a toothpaste-like tube.
The result was summed up by one
newspaper headline: "Space Food Hideous—But It Costs A
Lot."
Hideous or not, the public was eating it up, or in the case of Tang,
drinking it in abundance. When junior space travelers discovered Tang
was being used by the space program, sales of the instant breakfast
drink skyrocketed.
The Pillsbury Company, which had been lending
its support to NASA, saw an opportunity to catch a little "moon
fever" for their company. Their efforts lead to the creation of
Space Food Sticks.
Lead by Dr. Howard Bauman,
the food scientists at Pillsbury whipped up an energy stick that was
actually edible. Created as a contingency food, the long chewy
stick could slide into an airtight port located in an astronaut's
helmet to provide essential nutrition in case of an emergency.
This uniquely-textured energy snack secured a
coveted spot on the historic Apollo moon flights. Before Neil
Armstrong's "leap" in 1969 Pillsbury released a commercial
spin-off of their cosmic creation, imaginatively dubbing the
product Space Food Sticks.
Described as a "non-frozen balanced energy
snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of
carbohydrate, fat and protein," the Tootsie Roll-like candy came
in several flavors including caramel, chocolate, malt, mint, orange
and the ever-popular peanut butter. Aficionados will recall that the
Space Food Sticks were wrapped in special foil to give them an added
space-age appearance.
In 2002, Terra Firma Products brought Space
Food Sticks back to the USA after a twenty year absence. Satisfying
the cravings of longtime fans as well as creating an entirely new
generation of "stick aficionados," the chewy sticks are
alive and well in the 21st Century. |