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within ISS within JAXA

Space Food

Fresh foods loaded by JAXA

Purposes of loading fresh foods

Under the International Space Station (ISS) program, the participating countries in possession of transport vehicle send fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) to the long-staying astronauts on board the ISS. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) intends to procure and deliver domestically-produced fresh foods to these astronauts by H-II Transfer Vehicle "KOUNOTORI" (HTV) to mitigate their various stresses during long stay and improve their performance.

JAXA also wishes many people feel familiar with ISS crew and their activities through the "food." Moreover, by appealing the HTV unique transportation of domestic fresh foods in cooperation with the producers, JAXA hopes that Japan's presence in the ISS program will be boosted.

Selection of products

First, JAXA requests the prefectural governments of Japan to provide information about fresh foods (vegetables and/or fruits only) including harvest time and special product via the prefectural MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) officials' liaison council.

Based on provided information, several candidate products will be selected according to technical requirements^*1 such as cookability, preservative quality, hygiene, safety, residue and whether procurement period coincides with launch date. Selected products will be subjected to an organoleptic evaluation (taste) and the selection committee will make a final decision in the selection.

*1 Technical requirements for launching fresh food:

Cookability: The product is eatable in uncooked conditions.
Preservative quality: The product can be preserved for at least four weeks in the conditions simulating the thermal environment at the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) and in the Pressurized Logistics Carrier (PLC) of the HTV while it is loaded in the vehicle.
Hygiene: The number of general bacteria is smaller than 10,000 CFU/g after sterilization;
Safety: The edible part of the product is not the seed, no juice scatters while eating and the product is not subject to the regulations for indication of allergic ingredients.
Residue: Amount of residue after eating is extremely small.
Voluminal constraint: The product can be loaded on the designated area in the vehicle.
Procurement time: The product can be procured in time for the preservation test^*2 and loading operation.

*2 A test for checking that the fresh food proposed for loading can be preserved at 22°C (including temperature changes simulating the real loading environment) for four weeks. The product is checked about the number of general bacteria and yeast/molds. During the test, an organoleptic assessment is conducted.

Japanese fresh foods transported to the ISS

Loading fresh foods started from HTV5. By utilizing "late access" (late loading just before launch and early retrieval after arrival at the ISS) service, we can transport high freshness food which cannot be preserved for a long time.

Fresh products delivered by the HTV7

Fresh products delivered by the HTV8

Japanese fresh foods transported to the ISS

Item	Producing Prefecture	Photo
Orange "Kawachi Bankan"	Ehime
Kiyomi Orange	Ehime
Lemon	Ehime
Apple "Fuji"	Aomori
Apple "Akibae"	Ibaraki
"Unshu Mikan" (citrus unshiu)	Osaka
"Unshu Mikan" (citrus unshiu)	Ehime
"Unshu Mikan" (citrus unshiu)	Saga
Grape "Aurora Black"	Okayama
Grape "Shine Muscat"	Okayama
Onion	Hokkaido
Paprika	Miyagi

Preparations for cargo loading

Selection of fresh foods (About 4 weeks before launch)		Selection committee for fresh foods to be carried to the ISS
Operations at Launch Site	Sterilization / drying (About 8 - 10 days before launch)	Sterilization and drying of fresh foods
	Packing (About 8 days before launch)	Packing of fresh foods
	Packing into the Cargo Transfer Bag (CTB) (About 7 days before launch)	Packing fresh foods into the CTB
	Checking the CTB and loading into HTV (About 4 - 5 days before launch)	Checking the CTB with fresh foods to be loaded on the HTV (about five days before launch) Loading fresh foods into the HTV by late access (about four days before launch)