Sample space food package of cottage cheese with blackcurrent puree
Object No. 85/1053-4
Made in the Soviet Union, this empty tube labelled 'Cottage Cheese and Blackcurrant Fruit Puree' is an example of the packaging used by cosmonauts. Tubes were the earliest containers used for food in space and date from the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. They provided an easy way for cosmonauts to consume liquids, and from the early days of spaceflight solids in the form of a paste, without it escaping into the cabin and becoming a hazard to the spacecraft. Space food needs to be lightweight, compact and appealing to eat. Many surviving examples of space food were the least popular food stuffs. They were not eaten by the cosmonauts and thus returned to Earth with them. However, cottage cheese was among the most popular of foods, particularly to swap for food from the American astronauts. Weightlessness in space causes changes to the human body, including the leaching of calcium out of the bones. Any foodstuff high in calcium and flavoursome was a sort after item. Melissa Hulbert, Curatorial Assistant, and Andrew Jacob, Curator, 2020
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Summary
Object Statement
Sample meal package, space food, Soviet missions, food puree, metal / plastic, made by Biryulevo Experimental Factory, Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, c. 1984
Physical Description
An empty sample tube designed to hold space food in the form of a paste. On the front of the tube the top half has golden yellow stars against white background and the bottom half is red with a white and gold globe in the centre and wreath motif with red flag in centre of tube. There is a paper wrapper around top of tube with red text in Cyrillic script inside a white semicircle with a purple arch near the top of the tube. The Cyrillic text reads 'Tvorog / s chernosmorodinovim / pyuree' on the front (translation: Cottage cheese with blackcurrent puree) and 'MPP SSSR / VNPO KP i SPT / biryulevskii / eksperimentalnii zavod / massa netto 165g / Data izgotovleniya' (Translation: 'MPP [Ministry of Food Industry] USSR / VNPO KP & SPT [All-Union Science and Industry State Union State Enterprise] / Biryulevo / Experimental Factory / Nett weight 165g / Production Date') on the back. No date of manufacture is written. A white sticker on the back has black text in Cyrillic script reading 'Maket' or 'Mock up'.
DIMENSIONS
Height
180 mm
Width
62 mm
Depth
42 mm
SOURCE
Acquisition Date
28 June 1985
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