For the first time ever, Chinese astronauts have cooked food in zero gravity using a real oven aboard China’s space station, Tiangong. Crew members of the Shenzhou 21 and 20 missions baked chicken wings and steaks, China Daily reported.
In the video, space engineer Wu Fei is seen marinating the wings, threading them onto skewers, and placing them in a mini oven. Twenty-eight minutes later, he takes out a golden-brown dish — New Orleans-style «space» wings.
He and his colleague Wang Jie also cooked steaks seasoned with black pepper. The dinner, enjoyed with smiles and joy, was shared among six crew members.
Previously, the space menu was limited to dishes heated in bags or tubes, like ready-to-eat meals. Full-fledged cooking was impossible due to safety and ventilation limitations.
A new achievement of the Chinese space program — an innovative oven delivered by Shenzhou 21 — allows astronauts to cook without smoke or odor, maintaining a stable temperature and filtering air according to the station’s standards. The astronauts’ menu now includes 190 dishes, and their «kitchen garden» features lettuce, cherry tomatoes and even sweet potatoes.
Kursiv.media previously reported that Kazakhstan’s first female Blue Origin space tourist flew aboard New Shepard on Oct. 8.
