NASA Invites Public to "Virtual Dinner" With Final Shuttle Crew

HOUSTON, July 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The public can share a virtual dinner with the final space shuttle crew on Thursday, July 14 by preparing grilled chicken, barbecue brisket, baked beans and Southwestern corn at home using NASA's recipes.

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Food scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston prepared the special "All-American Meal" for the STS-135 shuttle crew, as the iconic American spacecraft makes its last voyage. The four shuttle astronauts, and possibly the six International Space Station crew members, are scheduled to eat the meal on the fifth day of the STS-135 mission.

"Since the mission is in July, we thought it would be fun to have a typical summer meal often enjoyed in our backyards with friends and family," said Michele Perchonok, NASA food scientist and manager of the shuttle food system.

For the special space recipes or "formulations" as they are called by NASA food scientists, plus more information, video and imagery, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/AllAmericanMeal

The crew's All American menu begins with crackers, brie cheese and sausage. The main course features grilled chicken, Southwestern corn and baked beans. The meal concludes with the quintessential American dessert, apple pie. The shuttle and station crews both have the meal on their menus, but the station crew has barbecued brisket as the entree.

The crackers, brie, sausage and apple pie are commercial off-the-shelf products repackaged for spaceflight. NASA food scientists prepared the chicken, brisket, corn and beans in a laboratory at Johnson before the mission.

For more information about the STS-135 mission, including the crew's full menus, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/STS-135

NASA's web coverage of STS-135 includes mission information, a press kit, interactive features, news conference images, graphics and videos. Mission coverage, including the latest NASA Television schedule, is available on the main space shuttle website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage of the mission. NASA TV features live mission events, daily status news conferences and 24-hour commentary. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Live updates to the NASA News Twitter feed will be added throughout the mission and landing. To access the feed, go to the NASA.gov homepage or visit:

http://www.twitter.com/nasa

All four of Atlantis' crew members are posting updates to Twitter. You can follow them at:

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ferg

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Doug

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Sandy

http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Rex

To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/connect

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA