Space Food, Pecans, Apollo 16 (White)

This package contains roasted pecans packed in small portions for easy chewing. The pecans were provided to the crew of Apollo 16 in April 1972, but as they were not used during flight, they were returned to Earth at the conclusion of the mission.

During the Apollo missions, food had to be stored without refrigeration and have the ability to be eaten under weightless conditions, while being nutritious, lightweight, and have the ability to be compressed when possible. Most food was designed to be easily reconstituted by the astronaut with a water probe which dispensed one half ounce of hot or cold water as required, each time the trigger button was pressed .

The food was protected with a 4-ply, laminated film coating. This protected the food from loss of flavor, moisture and oxygen invasion, spoiling and excess crumbling, and was used on both the rehydratable and the bite-sized foods.

Transferred from NASA to the National Air and Space Museum in 1986.