Case Study

Noodles in Space

In July 2005, Nissin introduced a vacuum packed instant noodle specially designed for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to eat during the US space shuttle Discovery's mission. (Kyodo, 2007)

According to Nissin, “Space Ram'', the vacuum packed instant noodle, will only be specially made for astronauts that are on the Kibo research module The top researchers, from Nissin, are said to be making an instant noodle that does not fall apart in zero gravity.

In addition, Nissin stated that this invention is meant to satisfy the Japanese astronaut’s crave for instant ramen.

Joji (2002) pointed out that: ``There's a need for nutritional, tasty Japanese food that the astronauts are accustomed to eating,'' said the company. ``There have been growing calls among our astronauts for something like this.''