Tang is a fruit-flavored breakfast drink. Originally formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitche in 1957, it was first marketed in powdered form in 1959.Sales of Tang were poor until NASA used it on John Glenn's Mercury flight, and subsequent Gemini missions.Since then, it was closely associated with the U.S. manned spaceflight program, leading to the misconception that Tang was invented for the space program.The Tang brand is currently owned by Kraft Foods.
Tang was famously used by some early NASA manned space flights. In 1962, when Mercury astronaut John Glenn conducted eating experiments in orbit, Tang was selected for the menu,and was also used during some Gemini flights. A NASA engineer working on Gemini explained how and why it was used (paraphrased):
Tang was famously used by some early NASA manned space flights. In 1962, when Mercury astronaut John Glenn conducted eating experiments in orbit, Tang was selected for the menu,and was also used during some Gemini flights. A NASA engineer working on Gemini explained how and why it was used (paraphrased):
"There was a particular component of the Gemini life support-system module which produced H2O (water) among other things. This was a byproduct of a recurring chemical reaction of one of the mechanical devices on the life-support module. The astronauts would use this water to drink during their space flight. The problem was, the astronauts did not like the taste of the water because of some of the byproducts produced, which were not harmful of course. So, they added Tang to make the water taste better."
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