2. General Foods created a space drink, in the public eye
Tang, a powdered fruit-flavored beverage, was developed by General Foods in 1957, as a more healthful alternative to Kool-Aid and other powdered drink mixes. The American consumer was unimpressed. Sales of the beverage were poor for several years. Despite being fortified with vitamin C and other nutrients, its benefits were ignored by American housewives, who in those days made most grocery purchasers, and it was to them most food advertising was directed. That changed in 1962, when American astronaut John Glenn made NASA’s first manned orbital spaceflight. Glenn conducted experiments with drinks during the flight, and Tang was one of the products he consumed while in space.
General Foods exploited the use of Tang in space, marketing it on television during Saturday morning programming, which at the time was mostly cartoon shows directed at children. General Foods marketed Tang as being a part of the space program, and touted its taste to children, its nutritional value to mothers, and its exciting modernity to all. Tang sales exploded as the excitement over the space program grew throughout the 1960s. The development of Tang led to an array of food products being linked to the space program, including food which was the forerunner for the energy bars and snacks which came decades later. Some foods were developed for actual use in space, and others were merely linked to them through advertising.