Local Students Cook up a Challenge for NASA Astronauts

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Feb 11, 2016, 03:38 ET

HAMPTON, Va., Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Langley Research Center will host a taste-testing panel for the 2^nd annual HUNCH (High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware) Culinary Challenge Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 11:45 a.m. EST.

Media interested in attending the HUNCH Culinary Challenge taste-testing should contact Lily Daniels at 757-690-3616 or [email protected] no later than 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 16. Media need to arrive at the NASA Langley gate located at 2 Langley Blvd. by 11 a.m. for the Tuesday event.

This year, the New Horizons Regional Education Center in Newport News has two teams that include high school students from across the Peninsula participating in the challenge. The teams have been learning about food science and about the challenge of developing and processing tasty recipes for astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

Approximately 30 teams from across the nation will compete for a spot as one of the 10 finalists. The top 10 finalists will travel to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in April for the final culinary competition. There, they will prepare their entrée at the JSC Food Lab for astronaut evaluation & taste testing. One entrée will be chosen to be made into a meal for the crew to eat while aboard the ISS.

The culinary team from Phoebus High School, which included students from all four Hampton high schools, won the overall HUNCH Culinary Challenge last year. Their recipe of rice and beans with coconut milk was made into astronaut food. Processed versions of their dish are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in March.

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SOURCE NASA