At China's space station, the hot-air oven carried by the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft has been put into use, as seen in a viral video showing astronauts enjoying freshly cooked chicken wings and steak for the first time.
In a video transmitted from the space station, Shenzhou-21 crew member and space engineer Wu Fei is seen removing marinated chicken wings from their packaging, placing them on a grill rack, and placing them in the oven. After about 28 minutes, a plate of piping hot New Orleans chicken wings made in space is served.
Wang Jie, also a member of the Shenzhou-20 crew, and Wu Fei, both from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, grill a plate of black pepper steak. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China is renowned for its high-quality beef and lamb.
The chicken wings and steak were immediately shared among the six astronauts, their faces beaming with joy.
The Shenzhou-21 spacecraft launched on Friday evening (October 31) local time, and its three crew members entered the space station a few hours later. They have been living and working with the Shenzhou-20 crew for several days, who are scheduled to return to Earth on November 5.
The space oven has undergone significant upgrades compared to conventional baking equipment on Earth. According to Liu Weibo of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, these improvements include precision temperature control technology, waste material collection, high-temperature catalysis, and multi-layer filtration, enabling smokeless baking in orbit while meeting the space station's oil fume emission standards.
The oven and its purification system have also undergone rigorous testing to ensure that they meet space station access requirements and can operate continuously and reliably for up to 500 cycles.
The use of an oven to prepare food marks the latest advancement in China's space station life support system. According to the center, the Shenzhou-21 mission expanded the food variety to more than 190 items and extended the menu cycle to 10 days, allowing astronauts to cook and bake ingredients such as fresh vegetables, nuts, cakes, and meat while in orbit.
Liu said that after spending several months in the relatively confined space of the station, being able to enjoy fragrant, seasoned chicken wings and steak, or freshly baked homemade nuts and bread, would certainly bring joy to the astronauts' hearts.
