Development of a 10-day cycle menu for Advanced Life Support

The Advanced Life Support (ALS) program at NASA-Johnson Space Center was initiated for use in long-duration space missions. With weight and volume restrictions and prolonged periods between resupply from Earth, as much as 90% of the energy requirements must come from food grown, processed, and prepared in space. ALS involves the use of hydroponically grown crops to supply and regenerate air and food for the crew. A 10-day cycle menu has been developed consisting of items prepared from the baseline crop list: potato, sweet potato, brown rice, wheat, peanut, soybean, lettuce, tomato, carrot, chard, radish, spinach, green onion, and dry beans (pinto and lentil). Of the recipes created for the menu, resupply items contributed only 4.54% by weight and 9.18% of the total calories. The menu has been analyzed to conform to the baseline crop list and nutrient recommendations for long-duration space missions.