Corned Beef Sandwich Smuggled Into Space

astroengine writes "In 1965, the first manned Gemini mission launched, carrying Gus Grissom and John Young into space. Obviously unimpressed with the NASA rations they had in the spaceship, Young whipped out a fresh deli-bought corned beef sandwich while in orbit. Although surprised, Commander Grissom had a bite of the sandwich and both astronauts commented on how strong it smelled. This high-jinx landed Young in some hot water however, annoying NASA, Congress and the media. But the pair did learn something valuable from the experience: deli sandwiches fall apart in the absence of gravity."

There's a positive side.

[baldusi]

I don't think it's a bad experiment in itself. Plus doing a silly thing like that might look sort of bad on your file, but it's a sure way to get a review comitee on that issue. Which might quite possible distract them from your other performance (if it wasn't up to par).

Re:

[nurb432]

Except those guys are extremely intelligent, and its logical to expect a mess in zero G.. And rather dangerous too with the risk of inhalation of sandwich parts.

Ahh, the first "handmeal".

[RockDoctor]

I wondered what prompted Larry Niven to mention special "handmeals" for the busy pilot in freefall. I guess I know now.
Google can only find 278 references for a "handmeal" ; obviously not one of the better taken Nivenisms.

As cool as these guys were before..

[bsDaemon]

As cool as these guys were before I had heard of this story, anyone who earns a mention as having annoyed "NASA, Congress and the Media" jumps 10 points in book. Good cricket, sirs... good cricket.

Re:

[TapeCutter]

Yes, quite a hat trick.

Looks like he made an unholy mess of the thing

[initialE]

And you wonder why they were pissed? Lots of money was spent on making food that didn't mess up the works in a zero-g environment, you know.

lame

[cntThnkofAname]

Sounds like old new to me!

mad about a sammich???

[hipp1124]

You cant get mad at a man for having a sandwich...I mean come on your thousands of miles away from home, at least let the poor guys have a deli sammich if they want it. =D

What it takes to eat a sandwich

[Kanel]

Sandwiches should have a "requires 1g gravity (not included)" sticker to avoid this.

Come to think of it, it's incredible what it takes to eat a sandwich. Not making it, just eating. You need a gigantic massive body to create the gravity needed to hold the sandwich together, an atmosphere to smell the sandwich in and plenty of oxygen made by faraway and totally unrelated plants to be able to digest it. Not to mention you and your ancestors need to have spent millions of years developing a jaw with which to c