DoubleTree’s famous chocolate chip cookie will be first food baked in space – Alton Telegraph

DoubleTree's famous chocolate chip cookie will be first food baked in space

It sounds like a line out of a weird new-age space comedy, but it's 100% factual: DoubleTree's famous "welcome" chocolate chip cookie is in outer space. A spaceship launched at 9:59 a.m. ET Saturday from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia made its way Monday morning to the International Space Station Monday.

Among the "8,200 pounds of science investigations and cargo" was a Zero-G Oven, DoubleTree cookie dough and DoubleTree cookies.

The oven was "designed for microgravity aboard the International Space Station," per officials with NASA, and could result in "psychological and physiological benefits" for crew members "from eating flavorful cooked meals." Until this experiment, food had never been baked in space astronauts eat specially made, pre-packaged meals instead.

If you're scratching your head wondering how DoubleTree got involved, it's a tale as 2019 as it gets. Someone from the hotel brand's social media responded to an Elon Musk tweet about putting a dummy and a Tesla into space; the tweet caught Zero-G Kitchen's attention, DoubleTree SVP Shawn McAteer told Delish, and the two companies began working together.

"One of their big missions is making space travel more hospitable, so they said what would we better than starting the experiment with chocolate chip cookies?" McAteer said.

Since the oven is in the testing stage, the astronauts won't be able to eat the freshly baked cookies this time around. But since the temptation of a fresh-baked cookie is real and the astronauts are up there through January, DoubleTree sent some already-made cookies up for the team to enjoy, too. If all goes well, astronauts could soon be eating foods hot out of the oven on future missions dessert included, of course.

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DoubleTree's famous chocolate chip cookie will be first food baked in space - Alton Telegraph