SPACEHAB, Inc. , a
leading provider of commercial space services, reports that its online retail
unit, The Space Store(TM) (http://www.thespacestore.com ), and its Johnson
Engineering unit have partnered to bring Earthlings the very same foods that
crew members are dining on aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Space Store is now selling a variety of space station foods — the
same dishes created for astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS, including
special “comfort foods” requested by crew members.
Johnson Engineering
produces these foods to NASA’s specifications for ISS crews, and now for The
Space Store.
The foods are fully hydrated and ready to eat.
Each dish has a
five-year shelf life, contains one large serving and is packaged exactly as it
is for shipping to the ISS.

At $9.95 apiece, selections include:
meatloaf
(easy to cut in
microgravity), chicken fajitas (no cutting required), beef stew (thick,
doesn’t float away), chicken noodle soup (eat from the package), minestrone
(vegetarian), peach yogurt
(great source of calcium), bread pudding (winner
in NASA taste tests), and potato soup (hearty).
The Expedition 3 crew set to
launch August 9 to the ISS will be taking along the chicken noodle soup.
The
chicken fajitas were a hit with the Expedition 2 crew that will return to
Earth later this month.
ISS crews use a conduction food warmer to heat their
food in space.
On Earth, these foods may be warmed in the package in boiling
water or out of the package in a microwave oven.

This microgravity menu has garnered global media attention, from BBC Radio
and the Financial Times to the Houston Chronicle, Newsweek, and South Africa’s
SA-FM radio.
For space enthusiasts, picky eaters, campers, college students
who won’t eat healthy on their own, real space food, offered exclusively by
The Space Store, may be the answer.
Space station foods will be for sale off
the shelf as well as on line when The Space Store opens its first retail shop
this fall, across the street from Space Center Houston near NASA’s Johnson
Space Center.
For Halloween, space suits sized for children and adults are
available now on line and will also be for sale at the new retail site, set to
open in early October.

The Space Store is now the largest space-related retail website in the
universe, featuring over 500 quality products that ship worldwide.
The
business began as a hobby in May 1997 for Houston rock and roll disc jockey
Dayna Steele Justiz and her NASA research pilot husband Charlie Justiz.
The
Space Store(TM) was acquired in June 2000 by Space Media, Inc. (SMI), a
subsidiary of Houston-based SPACEHAB, Inc.

Founded in 1984, with more than $100 million in annual revenue, SPACEHAB,
Inc., is a leading provider of commercial space services.
The company
develops, owns, and operates habitat and laboratory modules and cargo carriers
aboard NASA’s Space Shuttles.
It also supports astronaut training and
configuration management at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and builds
space-flight trainers and mockups. SPACEHAB’s Astrotech subsidiary provides
commercial satellite processing services at facilities in California and
Florida.
SPACEHAB’s newest strategic growth initiative, Space Media,
Inc.(TM), brings space into homes and classrooms worldwide with television and
Internet broadcasting from the ISS, interactive education programs through
STARS Academy (http://www.starsacademy.com ), and space merchandise from The
Space Store (http://www.thespacestore.com ).