Space Food, Chocolate Covered Cookies, STS-27

This vacuum-packed chocolate covered cookie is typical of Shuttle-era menu choices. Before each mission, the astronauts select their meals from a list of hundreds of food items. As there is no onboard refrigerator or freezer, most foods stocked on the Shuttle are processed for storage at room temperature. Single servings are packaged in disposable plastic containers, pop-top cans, or foil pouches, and foods are eaten directly from these containers. Dehydrated food items like this have a circular port in one corner for adding water to make the food edible. This item was returned from the STS-27 Space Shuttle mission (Atlantis) in 1988.