Jack Lousma doesn’t remember M&M getting in the air.
As a NASA astronaut, Lousma led the third spacecraft in 40 years ago this week. With pilot Gordon Fullerton, Lousma installed the reusable Columbia orbiter in its series, continuing to test and validate the vehicle in Earth orbit.
STS-3 set some records. It was the first wagon ship to start with an unpainted outer fuel tank, leaving behind beautiful features to be able to carry more. He was the first mission to carry out scientific experiments in the middle class of the prison. And when it came time to return home on March 30, 1982, he became the first and only car parked at White Sands Space in New Mexico. preventing the flow at the first stage in California and not attempting. a kind of different island in Florida.
“We were given a new, unused, 15,000-foot [4,570 meters] The difficult runway, with alligators on both sides, is at the Kennedy Space Center. I declined because I didn’t think we were ready for it, but we thought we were on the way to the lakebed at the White Sands Missile Range, where we made the most of our approach and landing gear, ”Lousma said in a recent interview with collectSPACE.com.
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Lousma and Fullerton were the first astronauts to take the costume with them into space. The first teams had fudge flavors and sweets like pudding, but STS-3 was the first to start with sugar cups on board. In particular, they were the first astronauts to fly M & M’s, the “candy-coated missiles” (as NASA called them, trying to avoid the Form of consent) made by Mars, Inc. since 1941.
Lousma has no recollection of doing so. (Fullerton died in 2013 at the age of 76.)
“To cut a long story short, I don’t remember the M&M candies on the STS-3 mission and I can’t confirm that they went on board or were eaten,” he said. Lousma. “I’ve enjoyed the powers of the Earth over the years – and the things about the atmosphere, but who knows because it can’t be denied exactly!”
NASA’s history is good on the subject, but as it turns out, Lousma isn’t the only one who forgot about this first thing. Likewise, Mars, Inc.
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Earlier this year, Mars Inc. He opened his newest M&M store in Disney Springs in Florida. The Orlando area, which is one of only seven in the world, has a “Wall of Chocolate,” Mickey Mouse M&M -only designs and a perfect time for fans to practice their traditional powers. of clothes.
The store has a number of photos, including one dedicated to M&M being “First Candy in Space.” Visitors can stand next to a four -foot -tall Red M&M, pointing to a large decorated sign. Nearby, people can find related souvenirs to buy, according to the show, which shows M&M’s first flight into the air in 1981.
STS-3 was released on March 22, 1982.
The store show isn’t the first time Mars, Inc. M&M says it first left the world by launching the first shuttle 41 years ago. In 2004, M&M published an advertisement featuring two men’s wide -brimmed shirts that were supported on the side of a short -sleeved shirt and had a larger hemline than expected for some of the words. M&M of the brand.
The advertisement read, “On the plane since 1981.”
The “truth” reported by Mars, Inc. when the company recalled the release of the last cars by providing Mission Control crew and members with standard flashlights in 2011.
“M&M has been a part of every airline since Columbia’s inception on April 12, 1981,” Mars, Inc. Officials wrote a release at the time.
If you take a long look back in the archive, however, you can see that Mars saw STS -3 the beginning of M&M in the air – even if it was only on the first day of the mission in 1982.
“One of the food astronauts Gordon Fullerton and Jack Lousma will be able to enjoy during their seven days aboard the‘ Columbia ’is M & M’s Plain Chocolate Candies,” the company announced. Posted on the advertisement site. . “NASA chose candy-coated chocolates for their thermal stability features.”
“That is, they were chosen because they melt in your mouth, not in your hand, or, in this case, your hot car.”
‘Funny color’
According to the 1982 release, Mars gave M&Ms a test for flight. Not only do they pass the “100-degree temperature” of the shuttle’s food storage area, but they can also retain their stability, aesthetics and taste after being treated in a hot environment. for six months.
The life of the class is good. Lousma doesn’t remember eating M&M in public because he didn’t do it. The four bags of clothes left in Columbia’s STS-3 closet that returned to Earth 10 days later were not opened by Fullerton or himself.
According to a NASA technology memo summarizing the food flown on the first 25 flight missions, it wasn’t until the next flight, STS-4, that the M&Ms first ate into the air. Four cloth -covered packages were released at Columbia – enough for two sailors Thomas “Ken” Mattingly and Henry “Hank” Hartsfield – but only three were returned. (The owner of the first M&M is not known in the open; Hartsfield died in 2014 and Mattingly cannot be reached at the time for this article.)
NASA’s conceptual analysis also includes some new preliminaries for M&M in space.
Plain M & M’s was first joined in the air by Peanut M & M’s (“candy-coated chocolate peanuts”) on STS-41B, the tenth tour and fourth flight. the Challenger orbiter, in 1984. It was previously eaten by Peanut M & M’s. in the air on STS-41D, the first flight of the Discovery orbiter, that same year.
The STS-41D was the first time Plain and Peanut M&M had moved from just flying into a tent and included pre-set astronauts menus. Payroll engineer Charlie Walker was a member of the first group to apply for (but not eat) Plain M & M’s, and Discovery manager Hank Hartsfield asked for and ate his Peanut M bags. & M’s.
(The first sailor to ask Plain M & M’s on his menu and eat them was STS-51I mission specialist Mike Lounge in 1985.)
The new flavors of M&M flew to the car -driving missions afterwards and the candy continued in history, even off the wings. M & M’s, for example, was the first aircraft to fly on a privately funded aircraft, SpaceShipOne in 2004, and M & M’s is an astronaut’s favorite today on board the International Space Station.
And it all started on STS-3 40 years ago, according to Mars, Inc. Accepted in the language provided by collectSPACE. The agency told its local historians “looking at the difference of the day” in their publisher.
“M & M’S has brought together people over 80 years of age, and we are proud of the milestones that our brand has combined with the fun of color – including being the first garment to fly. in the air, ”Mars, Inc. said.
Click to collect SPACE see the number of M&M packages flown and returned in each of the first 25 aircraft missions.
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