QUESTION:
What do you eat on the shuttle?

ANSWER from Jay Buckey:
This is a particularly good question for me right now. I
have to put together my menu for the flight by the end of the month. To do 
this, I'll pick items (main dishes, vegetables, desserts) from the list of 
food that we can fly on the shuttle.
	We don't have a refrigerator for food on the shuttle so the food 
must be the kind that can stay at room temperature, just like food you would 
take on a camping trip. Most of the food is dehydrated, which means all the
water has been taken out of it. You have probably seen dehydrated foods 
at the grocery store. For example, the Cup of Soup individual soups are 
dehydrated. To eat them you just add water.
	Our food comes in plastic packs with velcro on them. The velcro is 
so you can put the food down without it floating away. On one end of the pack 
is the place where you can insert a needle. The galley in the shuttle has a 
needle on it that goes into the plastic pack and puts in the amount of water 
you think you need. If you want the food warm, the galley also has a heating 
oven where you can put the plastic pack to let it warm up. 
	One of my favorite shuttle foods is the shrimp cocktail. You put in 
about 2-3 ounces of cold or hot water (I prefer cold) and then you mix it up 
well by kneading the package. Mixing is an important step. If the water doesn't 
get to one of the shrimp it will be crunchy, and this is not appetizing. If 
you do a good job, however, you will be rewarded with a very tasty shrimp 
cocktail. Other dehydrated selections are: chicken with rice, beef patty, 
asparagus, Mexican scrambled eggs, beef stroganoff and many others.
	In addition to dehydrated foods, we also have foods that are 
thermostabilized. This means that they can handle high and low temperatures 
without going bad. They do not need to have water added and they come in 
foil packages. Anyone who is familiar with military rations--the MRE (meal, 
ready-to-eat)--will recognize these foods right away. My personal favorite 
in this category is tomatoes and eggplant. I used to like the spicy 
meatballs, but they are no longer on the list.
	Another category of foods on the shuttle are the intermediate 
moisture foods. These arent dehydrated, but they arent in their natural 
form either. Some examples are smoked turkey and dried beef.
	We also have food in cans (ham spread, chicken salad spread) and 
foods you would find in the grocery store (individual puddings). We have 
m-and-ms (plain and peanut), cashews, and trail mix. On the first few 
days of the flight we will also have some fresh fruit and vegetables, but 
these have to be eaten right away or they will spoil.
	The drinks come in foil packages. You add water to the package to 
make the drink. We have coffee, tea with lemon, orange juice (no Tang), and 
many others. My personal favorite is the orange-mango drink.
	If you are not a picky eater you can have a very satisfactory meal 
on the shuttle.