TEKTITE II FOOD SYSTEM 



M. C. Smith, Jr. 



National Aeronautics and Space Administration 



Manned Spacecraft Center 



C. S. Ruber 

 Technology Incorporated 



G, A. Swaney 



Technology Incorporated 



and 



C. Stadler 



Technology Incorporated 



ABSTRACT 



Food systems were designed for Dives 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9*, 10, 11*, 

 and 12 in the TEKTITE II program. Seven hundred twenty six man 

 days of food were required to support this series of dives. The 

 core menu for the first series of dives (2, 3, and 4) was composed 

 primarily of precooked frozen food. Core menus for subsequent 

 dives had an equal mixture of precooked frozen, dehydrated, and 

 thermostabilized foods. Food systems which included a variety of 

 food types, i.e., frozen, dehydrated, and thermostabilized, had a 

 significant effect on food monotony - longer periods of time were 

 required to detect food monotony. Food preference data were 

 collected from 39 aquanauts, which will be useful in the design 

 of food systems for Skylab and subsequent manned spaceflight 

 programs. Age distribution, technical training, and the fact that 

 TEKTITE II subjects were highly motivated offered some similarity 

 to the present population of astronauts. 



OBJECTIVE 



TEKTITE II provided an opportunity to collect and evaluate data on food 

 preferences and food management in a unique environment, monotony as a 

 function of food type and variety, food preservation and handling, 

 efficiency of accountability, and techniques for measuring food intake and 

 energy expenditure. Data obtained from TEKTITE II will be used in design- 

 ing food systems for Skylab and subsequent manned spaceflight programs. 



PROCEDURES 



Menu design for TEKTITE II was experimental in that no attempt was made to 

 provide an optimal system for any single mission. Current data were needed 



*Dives 9 and 11 were not conducted 



VIII-90 



