Her recipes may not be found in any ordinary cookbooks, but her food is intergalactic. As the manager of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Space Food Systems Laboratory, Vickie Kloeris is the brains—and taste buds— behind the development, testing, and packaging of the food sent into orbit on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.

Kloeris discusses the transformation of space-program food from Tang, to shortribs created by contestants on Bravo’s Top Chef to the 180 different types of food and beverages on the current NASA menu—and the science and technology that keep the food edible for long periods of time. From the aisles of the grocery store to the special formulations from the NASA food lab, hear about such special considerations as nutrition and psychology and the limitations in creating meals fit to consume among the stars.

See NASA's Food in Space photo gallery.

Read about the Top 10 Space Foods in Discovery News.