Astronauts bake first cookies in space, but it takes two hours longer than on earth

Astronauts from International Space Station have baked the first cookies in space. Space station’s Italian commander Luca Parmitano was aided in the chocolate-chip cookie experiment by NASA astronaut Christina Koch. 

While it takes 15-20 minutes to bake on Earth, the experiment conducted by the astronauts revealed that the best cookies comes out after two hours in the oven in space.

The first and second cookies which were baked from raw ingredients in space, were still under-baked after being in the oven for 25 minutes and 75 minutes. It was gathered that the best result came after 120 and 130 minutes in the oven.

The aim of the experiment was to study cooking options for long-haul trips. Three of the cookies which were sealed in individual baking pouches returned to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on January 7. 

To determine the taste of the cookies, it is expected that they will first undergo additional testing by food science professionals to determine the final results of the experiment. The tests will establish whether the cookies are safe to eat.

Ms Koch who tweeted from Space in December 2019, wrote about making baking cookies in a prototype oven built by NanoRacks and Zero G Kitchen, which create appliances for microgravity use in long-duration space flights.

She wrote; 

“We made space cookies and milk for Santa this year.”

Mary Murphy, a manager for Texas-based Nanoracks said this week; 

“There’s still a lot to look into to figure out really what’s driving that difference, but definitely a cool result. Overall, I think it’s a pretty awesome first experiment.

“While we have initial visual and scent feedback from the crew aboard the ISS, we’re excited to dive into fully understanding the baking results – including breaking down why the bake time and temperature in space varies from what we are used to seeing on Earth.”