Friday July 20 will mark the 50th anniversary of a "giant step for mankind." On-board the historic Apollo 11 space capsule, was a slice of Nebraska innovation that few people know about.
"This was a kidding term that we really never publicized to call it 'Nebraska Space Bread,'" said retired University of Nebraska Food Science and Technology professor Ted Hartung.
Yes, bread in space. It was something that had never been done before. Old NASA archive film footage shows astronaut Buzz Aldrin putting jam on a slice inside the command module.
It was a handful of researchers including Hartung who made it possible.
"Yeah, basically the end of '68 was really the initial talk about could this be used," Hartung said.
Hartung had just named head of the new Food Science and Technology Department when he was contacted by NASA.
The space program wanted something other than freeze dried meals or food in a tube for its astronauts.
"The idea of getting something more, quote, like home-like with the possibility of bread being developed," Hartung said.
NASA had heard about the research done by UN-L professor Burt Maxcy irradiating meat to extend its shelf life.
NASA also knew, that, thanks to U.S. Sen. Carl Curtis, the university had a Navy Cobalt 60 irradiator.
"We could see food safety, and shelf life applications of irradiation. So that excited us to join NASA," Hartung said.
And join the race to space.
Bread was shipped in daily. The team, which included Maxcy, Hartung and Lloyd Bullerman, put the bread into plastic bags supplied by NASA. It was irradiated and then sent to Houston.
"Everything happened so very fast. And that was on the must-do list. To get that set up and going," Hartung said.
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
"As the mission was unfolding we were keeping briefed on how it was going," Hartung said.
The UN-L researchers were even given the astronauts daily menu.
"It was an amazing thing to think here was man and now here he was about to land on the moon," Hartung said.
Hartung remembers watching the historic event broadcast live July 20, 1969.
"We wondered in the lunar module if they took any slice of bread with them," Hartung said.
The bread was a success and used on all the Apollo and Skylab missions. It also propelled the university's fledgling program to takeoff.
The department now has more than 35 faculty and moved to a state-of-the-art facility on innovation campus.
"There's an expression that science is built on the shoulders of giants," said UN-L food microbiologist, Robert Hutkins.
Hutkins said UN-L rates with some of the top food science programs in the world.
"It think we are right up there. Nebraskans are always rather humble," Hutkins said.
He did a little research on the university's role in the space program.
"I'll be darned, I looked up some studies; funded by NASA, funded by the Army, funded by the Atomic Energy Commission. I thought, we were right there at the very beginning," Hutkins said.
One reminder of that research is on display in one of the labs. Grain in glass jars from 50 years ago. Non-irradiated corn now bluish-gray and moldy.
"The one that has been irradiated, you can't even tell it's 50 years old," said UN-L microbiologist," Andreia Bianchini.
Assistant professor of practice, Heather Hallen-Adams said many inventions and food safety practices used today came out of the space program.
"If you have food poisoning in space, you can't run to a doctor, you can't run home. If the food is bad, you're stuck with the bad food. It is a zero tolerance situation," Hallen-Adams said.
So sending bread in space was quite a feat.
"It was really kind of a great boost to have that kind of quality relationship from NASA," Hartung said.
