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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 2 November 2019
3-2-1-Cookoff! Astronauts to bake cookies with new test oven

By MARCIA DUNN clear silicone pouch and,
AP Aerospace Writer according to Ian Fichten-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. baum, resembles a frozen
(AP) — Forget reheated, hockey puck.
freeze-dried space grub. The oven's maximum heat
Astronauts are about to get is 350 F (177 C), double the
a new test oven for baking temperature of the U.S.
chocolate chip cookies and Russian food warmers
from scratch. aboard the space station.
The next delivery of sup- The cylindrical oven uses
plies for the International electric heating elements.
Space Station — sched- Nanorack manager Mary
uled for liftoff this week- Murphy anticipates a bak-
end — includes the Zero ing time of 15 to 20 minutes
G Oven. Chocolate chip per cookie at about 325 F
cookie dough is already up (163 C). The aroma of bak-
there, waiting to pop into ing cookies should fill the
this small electric oven de- lab each time a cookie
signed for zero gravity. comes out of the oven and
As a tantalizing incentive, is placed on an attached
sample cookies baked just cooling rack, she said.
this week are also launch- The first cookie will be the
ing Saturday from Virginia real test; it could end up
on Northrop Grumman's looking like a blob or a mini
Cygnus capsule, for the six pancake in the absence of
station astronauts. This undated photo made available by Hilton in October 2019 shows a Zero G Kitchen Space gravity.
The experiment explores Oven. Three of the space-baked
the possibility of making Associated Press cookies will be returned to
freshly baked goods for Fichtenbaum, who works in bake just one cookie at a Five raw cookies have Earth for analysis.
space travelers. With NASA the space business. time, and it could be weeks been in a space station "Baking doesn't always go
eyeing trips to the moon Also collaborating on this before the astronauts have freezer since the summer. according to plan, even on
and Mars, homemade first-of-its-kind space bake: time to try it out. Each is in its own individual the ground," said Murphy.q
food takes on heightened Texas-based Nanoracks,
importance. What's in orbit which designed and built
now are essentially food the oven and arranged Health officials disclose another
warmers. the flight, and DoubleTree,
Run by a New York couple, which supplied the same romaine outbreak, now over
Zero G Kitchen aims to cre- cookie dough used by the
ate a kitchen in space one hotel chain for welcome NEW YORK (AP) — U.S.
appliance at a time, start- cookies. health officials disclosed
ing with the oven. "That's the beauty of this another food poisoning
"You're in space. I mean, to me," Jordana Fichten- outbreak linked to ro-
you want to have the smell baum said by phone ear- maine lettuce, but they
of cookies," said Zero G lier this week. "It's the same said it appears to be over.
Kitchen's Jordana Fich- recipe and the same thing The disclosure late Thurs-
tenbaum, a social media that you get on Earth." day comes after the pro-
specialist for hotels and res- Previous station crews have duce industry said it was
taurants. "The kitchen is re- created their own pizzas us- stepping up safety mea-
ally sort of the heart of the ing flatbread and warmed sures following a series of
home to me, and the oven them in the galley. Astro- outbreaks , including one
is kind of where it's at. So nauts have attempted last year that sickened
just to make (space) more other creative cuisine, mix- more than 200 people
comfortable and make it ing and heating chopped and killed five. It’s not This Nov. 20, 2018 file photo shows Romaine Lettuce in Simi
Valley, Calif.
more pleasant, more deli- onions and garlic, for in- clear why romaine keeps Associated Press
cious." stance, and whipping up sickening people, but ex- said by Sept. 19 leafy that sickened more than
Out-of-this-world baking salads from station-grown perts note the difficulty of greens were suspected 200 people was traced to
can also entice the public greens. Results have been eliminating risk posed by for the cluster of E. coli ill- Yuma, Arizona, one of two
and make space explora- mixed. raw vegetables grown in nesses, and that romaine regions that grow most
tion more relatable, ac- The cookie baking will be open fields. was determined as the the country’s romaine. A
cording to her husband, Ian slow going — the oven can The U.S. Food and Drug likely source Oct. 2. massive cattle feedlot in
Administration said 23 The FDA, which overseas the area was identified as
people were sickened be- produce safety, said its a potential contamina-
tween July 12 and Sept. data indicated the taint- tion source. Months later,
8. No deaths were report- ed produce was no lon- just before Thanksgiving,
ed. As with previous out- ger on shelves by the time the FDA warned people
breaks, the agency said it romaine was identified as to avoid romaine be-
was unable to determine the likely culprit. It said the cause of another E. coli
how the romaine became situation didn’t warrant outbreak. That was traced
contaminated. immediate public com- to central California, the
The Centers for Disease munication. other key region where ro-
Control and Prevention The spring 2018 outbreak maine is grown.q