L-393: Eating and drinking

You might have wondered if crewmembers have something to eat or drink during spacewalks, that can easily last 7-8 hours.

I have heard that some kind of food bars were available in the suit in the past, but experience has shown that they were more a nuisance than a help. In terms of energy, it’s easier to rely on a big breakfast.

There is a water bag in the suit, though. We also use it in the pool for our 6-hours runs. It’s a disposable rubber bladder that contains up to 32 oz (almost 1 liter) of simple water. When we arrive on the pool deck in the morning after the brief, the first thing we do is to insert that bladder into a reusable restraint bag and to orient the blue bit valve the way we like to have inside the helmet.

We then secure the bag inside the suit with velcro, making sure that the bite valve is at the proper height for easy reach. Just like the water bags commonly used by bikers and hikers, you need bite on the valve to open the orifice and draw water from the bag. Once you release it, the orifice closes to prevent more water from flowing out.