What the Artemis II astronauts are eating in space — including 5 different hot sauces

Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen land on earth on Friday, April 10 after enjoying an interesting diet in space for 10 days

The crew of the Artemis II mission leaves the Astronauts Headquarters at the Kennedy Space Center during the traditional walkout before heading to the launch pad. From left to right, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch will embark on a 10-day mission that will take them around the Moon.© Getty Images
Tess Hill
Tess HillNews and Features Writer
April 7, 2026
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Artemis II is scheduled to return to Earth on Friday, April 10, 2026. The four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen – went further from Earth than any human has ever gone.

And during their mission in space, the astronauts have enjoyed an interesting array of food. NASA is no stranger to fueling astronauts, of course. NASA has sent over 300 astronauts to space since it was founded in 1958.

For this mission, the spacecraft had no refrigeration, so every meal had to be carefully selected "to remain safe, shelf-stable, and easy to prepare and consume."

So, what are the astronauts aboard Artemis II eating? Here's everything HELLO! knows about the meals on NASA's Orion spacecraft.

In this handout image provided by NASA, Artemis II mission specialist and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen enjoys a shave inside the Orion spacecraft during Flight Day 5, April 5, 2026, and ahead of the crew's lunar flyby on April 6.© NASA via Getty Images

What are the astronauts eating while in space?

According to NASA, Artemis II is loaded up with 189 unique menu items. The astronauts have everything from vegetable quiche to barbecued beef brisket. The food is packaged specifically for a trip to space, minimizing crumbs and created to be easy to prepare and eat.

A worker is seen inside the Science Mission Operations Room (SMOR) at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on April 6, 2026. The Artemis astronauts entered the final phase of their run-up to a lunar loop on Monday, a tipping point of sorts that means the Moon's gravity is now having a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's. The Orion capsule will now whip around the Moon, setting the crew up to travel farther from our home planet than any human before. © Getty Images

How many times a day do the astronauts eat?

Just like us on Earth, the astronauts aboard Artemis II eat three times a day. They have scheduled time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast, they could enjoy a chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry breakfast drink, sausage, or granola with blueberries.

For lunch and dinner, the options are couscous with nuts, mango salad, barbecue beef brisket, broccoli au gratin, spicy green beans, macaroni and cheese, tropical fruit salad, butternut squash, and cauliflower.

In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon on April 4, 2026. NASA's Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft.© NASA via Getty Images

What beverages are available for the astronauts?

Of course, water is available onboard, but there are more options than that too. Reid, Christina, Victor, and Jeremy have more than 10 types of beverages including coffee, green tea, lemonade, apple cider, and cocoa.

And per NASA, it takes 43 cups of coffee to power the Artemis II crew.

Reid Wiseman joins crew members Victor Glover, Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency on stage as the four astronauts who will fly around the moon in late 2024 as part of NASA's Artemis II mission on Monday April 3, 2023 at the NASA Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston.© Getty Images

Sweets and culinary flavorings

The food aboard Artemis II is definitely flavorful. And when the astronauts have a craving for sweets, they have many options to satisfy that. For dessert, Reid, Christina, Victor, and Jeremy can choose from pudding, cookies, chocolate, cake, candy-coated almonds, and cobbler.

If they want to jazz up their meals, they can add maple syrup, peanut butter, strawberry jam, honey, cinnamon, or almond butter.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, looks on during the rollout of NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, in January 17, 2026.© Getty Images

The hot sauces on Artemis II

It seems the astronauts traveling through space really needed their hot sauce. There are five different hot sauces flying around the Moon with the crew. While Reid, Christina, Victor, and Jeremy haven't yet revealed which sauces are onboard, internet sleuths and hot sauce lovers have been quick with their opinions.

One Reddit user commented on a thread musing about which brands the astronauts brought with them, saying: "I feel like one of them must be a Canadian brand. Heartbeat or Maritime Madness." Another wrote: "Are we gonna get a Hot Ones episode filmed in space?"

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