They may not have all the fixins, but the astronauts aboard China’s Tiangong space station are sure eating well.
The oven not only serves as a powerful technology demonstration for the microgravity microwave (which actually functions more like an air fryer), but it also provides a welcome flavor of home for the astronauts living aboard the station.
Kang Guohua, a senior member of the Chinese Society of Astronautics and a professor of aerospace engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told Chinese state media that comforts such as hot meals are important to keep crews psychologically “grounded.”
According to the ACC, the oven operates without stressing Tiangong’s power grid and is designed to provide consistent and smokeless baking conditions in the station’s microgravity environment. Such conditions are necessary aboard orbital outposts like Tiangong and the International Space Station (ISS), which rely on strictly maintained life support systems and rigorous fire safety protocols.
Cooking in microgravity differs from cooking something here on Earth. The sweet spot for the chicken wings was 28 minutes inside their enclosed grill container. Some peppered steak was also prepared for Shenzhou 20 Commander Chen Dong, according to a report from the Global Times, a tabloid owned by the state-run People’s Daily.
The Global Times compared the cooking milestone to one notched aboard the ISS in 2019, when NASA astronauts baked cookies in space using a prototype Zero G oven. That test showed that baking things in orbit (at least cookies) takes longer than it does on Earth. But China’s oven, unlike the temporary Zero G oven used aboard the ISS, is there to stay. The device has been integrated into Tiangong’s systems and certified for up to 500 uses.
The Shenzhou 21 crew launched to Tiangong on Oct. 31 and will remain aboard Tiangong for roughly six months. The trio is relieving the Shenzhou 20 astronauts, who have been living aboard the station since April and will return to Earth on Nov. 5.