|
Author
|
Topic: Memories of Apollo shampoo and Tang drink
|
Satipe
New Member Posts: 4
From: Toronto
Registered: Jul 2001
|
posted 07-24-2002 05:54 PM
  
I remember as a boy that my mother bought some shampoo that came in a white plastic container in the shape of the command/service module. The cap was where the lunar module would have connected. Does anyone else remember this?Also, I used to beg my mother to buy Tang because it was the "breakfast of astronauts." She never did buy it and I can see why as years later when I tried it... orange syrup! Who else begged their mother for Tang? |
uzzi69
Member Posts: 181
From: Richmond, IN USA
Registered: Jun 2001
|
posted 07-24-2002 08:23 PM
I don't know about the shampoo, but I remember the Tang. To a 5 year old in the 60's Tang was pure rocket fuel! I remember some of the magazine ads with Gemini spacecraft, I think. |
John K. Rochester
Member Posts: 1292
From: Rochester, NY, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted 07-25-2002 08:17 AM
....plus, with some jars of Tang in the '70's you could get that cool (?) plastic lunar rover! |
Cliff Lentz
Member Posts: 655
From: Philadelphia, PA USA
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted 07-25-2002 09:28 AM
I believe that Tang was being produced when the Mercury started, or rather when we were forced to start the Mercury program. Probably with some different preparation, it was a right-off-the-shelf item that fit the needs. Now there are so many powdered drinks out there. By the way, Tang is still being made. I was at a John Glenn press conference a few months ago and the buffet table had bottles of Tang in the centerpiece and they were serving it by the pitcher. It still doesn't taste any better. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 07-25-2002 09:43 AM
Tang was never consumed by a Mercury astronaut during flight. A citric-flavor was added to the water feeds in the Mercury capsule after Shepard reported a metallic taste during his flight. Tang was introduced to supermarket shelves in 1959 however it wasn't used by the space program until Gemini. |
disglobes
Member Posts: 594
From: Orting, WA
Registered: May 2000
|
posted 07-25-2002 10:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Satipe:
Does anyone else remember this?
The shampoo you are thinking of is from Avon. I purchased one on eBay a couple of years ago. I see them on there all of the time. Just do a search in space exploration using the word "Avon." |
Cliff Lentz
Member Posts: 655
From: Philadelphia, PA USA
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted 07-25-2002 11:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Tang was introduced to supermarket shelves in 1959 however it wasn't used by the space program until Gemini.
I have to take your word for this. Tang seemed to be forever tied to the earlier astronauts, but I'm sure your right. Boy, I was right there talking to John Glenn. I could have asked him about Tang!Now I'm going to have to start plowing through my files for Tang advertisements! |
tegwilym
Member Posts: 2331
From: Sturgeon Bay, WI
Registered: Jan 2000
|
posted 07-25-2002 12:55 PM
Yeah, I used to drink Tang when I was a kid in the 70s since the astronauts drank it.
I hear that if you dump some Tang in the toilet and let it sit for a while, it cleans off the unsightly ring (Citrus acid). I tried that once, but then someone went in the bathroom and saw the Tang in the water "Ewwww... flush Tom!" I then remembered my experiment and had to tell them it wasn't what it appeared to be.But I will have to admit that my favorite "astronaut food" was FOOD STICKS!! Remember those things? My sister and I used to unwrap it and roll it up into balls before eating it. They have shown up again. |
Aztecdoug
Member Posts: 1405
From: Huntington Beach
Registered: Feb 2000
|
posted 07-25-2002 01:24 PM
I loved those space food sticks! I couldn't get enough of them. Mom didn't think the same way. I could have eaten a couple dozen easily if given the chance.I had to have the Tang too. The thicker the mix the better! Geeez this takes me back to Major Matt Mason and Sgt. Storm too! |
GerryM
Member Posts: 244
From: Glenside PA
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 07-25-2002 03:54 PM
I am sure that Tang featured James Lovell as their spokesman through the Gemini Program and showed him in their print magazine advertisements. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 07-25-2002 04:02 PM
My reference for Tang's advertising was from a conversation I had with one of General Food's reps several years back. A quick web search resulted in the following from retrofuture.com: Space food had to improve and it did. By the time Apollo 11's Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. sat down for the first meal on the moon, they were able to chow down on a spread of hot dogs, bacon squares and canned peaches. Well, it beat beef in a tube.The public? They wanted to try space food. General Foods, which marketed Tang, was best-positioned to take advantage. Tang had been on every Gemini and Apollo mission and General Foods quickly launched an all-out advertising blitz that ensured Tang would become synonymous with space travel itself. The space-crazed public found Tang new and exciting (after all, why would anybody want to drink real orange juice?). Actually, Tang wasn't new -- it had been on supermarket shelves since 1959. That mattered little to kids watching the space missions on TV. Tang was the beverage of the gods, and when they demanded it, parents had little choice but to comply. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
|
posted 07-25-2002 04:24 PM
There was a show on last week on the Food Network talking about it. They said Tang first flew on Gemini, but if they cited a specific mission I cannot remember.I seem to remember reading once before that what NASA had was not Tang, but that Tang was a spinoff of the orange drink NASA supplied to its astronauts on their missions (to get the metallic taste out of the water). But frankly, as it seems here, I have never seen a detailed explanation. |
Cliff Lentz
Member Posts: 655
From: Philadelphia, PA USA
Registered: Mar 2002
|
posted 07-26-2002 10:52 AM
Space Food Sticks! Hmmm! They always tasted like a somewhat bland Tootsie Roll to me. Of course, that didn't keep me from buying them. I still have some of the original boxes. There was something else too and I'm not sure what it was called. It was packaged in plastic packages like cake batter. In fact, it tasted like cake batter. I think it had a Mercury capsule on the wrapper. This stuff was pretty rich and I'm sure, loaded with calories. You had to wash it down with a big glass on TANG! |
kennetzel
New Member Posts: 7
From: Buffalo, NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2010
|
posted 01-04-2010 09:04 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Satipe:
Does anyone else remember this?
Oh man... I had this game. My cousin and aunt sold Avon during the sixties and early seventies and I got this for my birthday. I had a lot of space toys as a kid, including this shampoo bottle. It was really cool to play. Thanks for posting. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 01-04-2010 10:26 AM
I still drink Tang (which could explain a lot in my case, he he he). Although I may stop as they just changed the formula AGAIN!In my case, Tang got me started with patch collecting as I can remember in 1982-83, they had a campaign going where you could send away a certain number of proof of purchase seals to get a free shuttle patch. They were the small ones, not the normal size versions, but I ended up getting a couple including STS-1 and STS-9. The STS-9 patch even got me to learn how to sew as I stitched it to a favorite camouflage baseball cap I had at the time. Of course when it comes to Tang, to get some idea for how well the astronauts "liked" it you only have to go back to the radio debrief that took place between Young and Duke on the moon during Apollo 16 when they were inside the LM. These days, the NASA food lab still buys "off the shelf" as it were as often as they can for some items, while doing their own preparation for others. There is one popular powdered drink that flies today, but it isn't Tang. It is yellow and tastes just like "good old fashioned lemonade". |
kennetzel
New Member Posts: 7
From: Buffalo, NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2010
|
posted 01-07-2010 08:23 AM
quote:
Originally posted by kennetzel:
But I had a lot of space toys as a kid, including this shampoo bottle. It was really cool to play.
I was lucky enough to find this cool Moon Mission game from Avon with box and play mat.  It was shampoo. But when the shampoo was gone, the cap unscrewed and you jammed it into the pour spout. You slammed the command module on the table and the LM popped out landing on the table with a number up. That was the number of spaces you moved. I love the period art on the play mat. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-18-2016 05:45 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Tang was introduced to supermarket shelves in 1959 however it wasn't used by the space program until Gemini.
Several NASA sources indicate that Tang was on the menu aboard John Glenn's Friendship 7 in 1962. Can anyone find an official reference to it actually being consumed aboard the flight as part of the experimental menu? Here are a couple of other sources suggesting John Glenn may have consumed Tang aboard the flight of MA-6. Sales of Tang, the orange flavored powdered soft drink, went through the roof when advertised as first used by Astronaut John Glenn. (source) And from CBS News: Leno then asked Glenn to compare the food available aboard the space shuttle and aboard his Mercury capsule."Well, back in those days, you know, we had very plain food, applesauce and so on. This time I can have my Tang mixed with either Geritol or Metamucil so I can take my choice." |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-18-2016 07:15 PM
You just have to love these vintage Tang commercials: |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
|
posted 06-18-2016 08:50 PM
This has been a fun thread to read. I do prefer cold pulpy orange juice to newly mixed Tang. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 06-19-2016 11:37 AM
Never understood the fascination of Avon products at all. But Tang on the other hand, my mom was kind enough to keep buying it for me at least two years. I loved the "tangy" taste. I cannot pinpoint my recollection of the space connection, but had thought of it that way, sadly, now way back when. Oddly enough I only remember the 3rd commercial about "rocks"... |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
|
posted 06-20-2016 12:47 AM
Avon? Tang? There was always EPAS. EPAS is an acronym for Experimental Project Apollo-Soyuz. The fragrance — actually a concentrated cologne that will retail here at $10 for 2.25 ounces — was created to commemorate the first cooperative manned space flight. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-20-2016 04:48 AM
Here is detailed information and images of EPAS. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
|
posted 06-20-2016 07:11 AM
Interesting - I managed to purchase two bottles of EPAS from Jordan's store in Miami in 1975 when in Florida for the launch of the Apollo segment of ASTP.
If memory serves correctly EPAS was evolved by Revlon into a perfume called Charlie. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 06-20-2016 07:37 PM
The July issue of "Southern Living" magazine has an article named "The South's Best Frozen Treats". Numero uno in the article is a place called Satellite in Birmingham, AL. There they serve a drink called the Rocket Booster Cocktail, featuring Tang, honeysuckle vodka, and Campari. A waste of perfectly good honeysuckle vodka and Campari, in my opinion...  |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-21-2016 08:29 AM
As a follow-up to EPAS, how about Zen from Japanese company Shiseido?In October 1998 aboard Discovery on STS-95, Japanese astronaut Chiaki Mukai and NASA astronaut John Glenn grew a miniature rose called Overnight Scentsation in space. They extracted aroma essences from the rose to bring back to earth. Then International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) reproduced this aroma essence and named it Space Rose. Shiseido and Nathalie Lorson blended the Space Rose note in a new perfume and commercialized it as Shiseido ZEN in 2000. Although discontinued, it may still be available online. More information can be found on aerospace spinoff and space scents. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-23-2016 10:11 AM
|
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
|
posted 06-24-2016 04:04 PM
Oh, I remember those Space Food sticks!
|
mode1charlie
Member Posts: 1169
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010
|
posted 06-24-2016 10:15 PM
Is there any evidence that the commercially available space food sticks were ever used on a mission? I know the A7L had a slot for a snack bar on the neck ring so that they could have a nibble during the lunar EVAs. I've heard the food item described variously as a "food stick" and a "fruit bar". |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-25-2016 02:20 PM
Figures 7 and 8 of SP-368 Biomedical Results of Apollo - SECTION VI - CHAPTER 1 APOLLO FOOD TECHNOLOGY are images of the high nutrient density food bars consumed during the extended duration lunar EVAs of the Apollo 15-17 J missions.Along with good detail of the potassium fortification of drinks on Apollo 16, there was this interesting observation regarding Apollo 13: The beverage packages found other uses during Apollo missions and proved to be versatile, durable, and reliable. They were used in experiments on the separation of gas from liquids in weightlessness and also served as head supports on the couch during reentry of the Command Module in at least one mission.The Apollo 13 food system included the first dehydrated natural orange juice. Orange juice had not been employed in space food systems previously because the dehydration methods available failed to prevent fusion of natural sugars with the formation of an insoluble mass. The provision of fruit juices further improved the quality and nutritional value of the food system.
|
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-25-2016 05:49 PM
Unless it is blatantly false/creative advertisement, this Pillsbury Space Food Sticks product leaflet from 1970, states in the second panel:Space Food Sticks have been to the moon. Now you can travel with them during your busy day. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-25-2016 06:06 PM
I have no idea what this tastes like, but Splashdown Lemon-Lime Crater-Ade looks like just the rocket fuel to send the next generation of kids into orbit! |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 06-25-2016 08:54 PM
Seriously? Clearly targets the pre-pre-teen crowd... |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-25-2016 10:04 PM
Rumour has it there was a 75% Alcohol : 25% Water version, but that was early stage development and it never launched!  |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-26-2016 09:03 AM
This 1969 Space Food Sticks Ad gives a little more insight into the development of the product:SPACE FOOD STICKS - A chewy little "energy stick" developed for U.S. Aerospace Research has been made available to the public as a new idea in snack foods: although it tastes like candy, it's balanced nutrition.Developed by The Pillsbury Company under government contract, it was originally meant to be eaten only by the most exclusive "club" in the world - the men who will make long flights in space. Pillsbury scientists worked a year and a half to develop the new food. At that stage it was the nutrition "ideal" the government had specified, but flavour was only "pretty good". So Pillsbury flavor experts went to work to give it snack flavors. The result was a unique snack, Space Food Sticks. They are a little chewier and sweeter-tasting than the original spaceman food, tasty enough so children think they're candy. But with lasting energy, complete protein and balanced nutrition fully equal to the food men could live on in outer space. |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
|
posted 06-26-2016 08:05 PM
I remember the flavor as okay, but a bit chalky. I doubt that if any exist, they would be edible. LOL. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-26-2016 09:24 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mode1charlie:
Is there any evidence that the commercially available space food sticks were ever used on a mission?
So far it would appear that the mission flown sticks and the commercially available sticks, while not identical, are related modified product versions with some common properties. This 1973 NASA Skylab News Release seems to confirm that. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
|
posted 06-27-2016 05:28 AM
In Chapter 15 Discomfort Food of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in Space by Mary Roach, it is written: The Space Food Stick also began life as a military washout. What the Air Force called "rod-shaped food for high-altitude feeding" was originally intended as food that could be poked through the port of a pressure suit helmet. "We couldn't get them stiff enough," O'Hara told me. So Pillsbury took back its rods and went commercial with them. Bourland says they occasionally went up with the astronauts simply as an onboard snack - sometimes under the name Nutrient-Defined Food Sticks and other times as Caramel Sticks, fooling no one. Note 1: O'Hara = US Air Force dietician May O'Hara.
Note 2: Bourland = NASA food scientist Charles Bourland.As an interesting aside, Roach wrote the following of Gemini 3: The contraband Wolfie's sandwich violated no less than sixteen of the formal manufacturing requirements for "Beef Sandwiches, Dehydrated (Bite-sized)." |
advertisement