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Made by Jam Handy, presented by Whirlpool and featuring Peter Hackes, a science reporter, this Apollo era film "How Many Meals to the Moon?" shows how food was developed for NASA astronauts. The film was directed by Lou Kramer. The film begins with footage of Boy Scouts working with Estes type model rockets (1:30). The film then delves into the problems of food preparation, packaging, storage, serving and disposal and the role played by the Life Support Department of Whirlpool in this area. At 3:00 a woman works in a modern kitchen with beautiful space age refrigerators and ranges built by Whirlpool. At 3:48 the Gemini Program is shown with astronauts performing EVAs. At 4:30 the head of Life Support, Dr. Norman Roth, is introduced and there's a discussion of the space food challenge. At 5:44 the environment of space is described and at 6:30 the challenges of the Apollo program described -- no cooking in space, and food must survive decompression and storage for two weeks' time. At 7:30 fruits and vegetables are shown as well as other staples. At 8:40 the experimental kitchen at Whirlpool is shown. At 9:15 a menu is shown for an astronaut, then a table of "normal" food, and at 9:50 the same food is shown in plastic packages. At 10:15 testing of preparation equipment for bacteria is shown. At 10:29 freeze drying is shown. At 10:42 cube foods are shown including toasted bread and cereal cubes. At 10:54 a dehydrated fruit salad is shown. At 12:20 "go or no go" on a cube before freeze drying. At 13:30 quality control is ensured by a woman scientist at a work station. At 14:26 meal units are assembled. At 15:00 food is shipped to NASA and placed into the Apollo Command Module and stowed in the crew compartment. At 15:34 the galley is seen in the food preparation area. At 15:44, kids ask "how do they eat?" At 15:54 an astronaut in zero-G demonstrates opening the galley and accessing food supplies. At 17:00 the astronaut cuts open the tube and adds water to reconstitute the food. At 18:18 he eats a piece of gingerbread, keeping his mouth closed so as to prevent crumbs from going into the Command Module. At 18:45 a pill is placed into the package to prevent bacterial growth in the used food package before placing into the waste storage space. At 19:50 the astronaut chews on a piece of sugarless gum to keep his stomach busy. The film ends with images of a simulated walk on the Moon at 20:27.
Peter Hackes (June 2, 1924 – April 17, 1994) was a longtime American TV and radio correspondent who late in life had acting roles in two prominent American films.
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