A pizza video that was out of this world became a popular order on social media this month. Paolo Nespoli, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, posted a video on December 2 of him and his fellow astronauts creating pizzas. By December 7, the video had been retweeted nearly 1,000 times and received about 2,600 likes.
To make the four pizzas, the astronauts were supplied with four shelf-stable pizza crusts, pizza sauce in a plastic squeeze bottle, pepperoni, turkey pepperoni, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, anchovy paste, garlic paste, pesto paste, Gouda cheese food (shelf stable, cheese like), and olive oil, says Dan Huot of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The video shows a Boboli pizza crust brand, which is owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Astronauts in the International Space Station have a food warmer to heat the food, but no oven/baking capability exists, Huot says.
The astronauts may have had to hold the anchovies and other ingredients, as in literally hold them.
“Difficulties that can arise are common with all food types, which come from dealing with the microgravity environment — basically make sure your food doesn’t float away,” Huot says. “All of the ingredients were standard, off-the-shelf ingredients from a grocery store.”
