Ah, the illustrious corned beef sandwich incident of Gemini 3. It’s 1965, and while NASA’s busy figuring out how to get astronauts to the Moon, John Young decides to shake things up. Instead of the unappetizing, reconstituted space food packed in plastic bags, Young smuggles a contraband corned beef sandwich onto the spacecraft. Kudos to Wally Schirra for being the mastermind behind this cosmic culinary caper from Wolfie’s delicatessen at Cocoa Beach.
So there they are, Grissom and Young in orbit, ready to chomp down on some rye bread. It didn’t end well. Floating crumbs nearly jeopardized the multi-million dollar mission. Who knew cured meats and rye could be so rebellious?
Back on Earth, the House Appropriations Committee wasn’t amused. It was met with the comically un-NASA response of: “We have taken steps to prevent recurrence of corned beef sandwiches in future flights.”
#spacefood #cornedbeef #foodie #foodhistory
