My hat is off to the wonderful folks at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. They know how to attract traffic at the museum – with food and alcohol after hours!
Last night was the museum’s annual “Science of Eats” adults-only special event. Exhibitors with fine foods and beverages crafted in North Carolina were featured, all with a bit of a scientific tie-in for their products. For example, a local craft whiskey distiller had information about the fermentation and distillation process.
I was invited to participate, since I’ve had a table as a Solar System Ambassador at the museum’s “Cocktails and Cosmonauts” events in the past. They told me I didn’t need to talk about food but would be happy to have me there anyway.
I’m not one to turn down an invitation to participate in an event with food or to leave a challenge unaccepted.
I decided to put together a video on the evolution of the food that astronauts have taken with them into orbit over the years, and how people now eat aboard the International Space Station.
But how to make this a hands-on demo? It occurred to me on the drive over to Durham that astronauts eat M&Ms on the ISS. The only difference is that the candies on the ISS don’t have the M&M logo on them – they’re just called “peanut candies.” So I made a quick stop at a gas station and procured my goodies.
My assigned table at the museum was next to their Saturn V J-2 rocket engine—the prefect place for an Apollo guy!
People were most impressed with the videos of Chris Hadfield making a space burrito and were mesmerized (and a little disgusted) by a video of Jack Fischer eating pudding in zero-G. One attendee thanked me for the M&Ms because they helped her get the taste of feta cheese out of her mouth (“I felt like I was going around with the taste of a petting zoo.”). Asking folks questions like, “How do you think they put salt and pepper on things in zero-G?” spurred some fun interaction.
My Apollo books also sparked some interesting conversations with people whose parents and grandparents had worked on the Apollo program. One woman’s grandfather had worked on the gyroscopic “stable platform” that helped guide Apollo to the Moon.
I enjoy doing events like these, because I love engaging people in thinking about the things we take for granted here on Earth!