This post is written upon free samples from beefjerky.com. Beefjerky.com sent us 2 packets of jerky to try. We are not paid for this post.

Last week, on November 16th, NASA launched it’s latest Space Shuttle mission.

That mission, code named STS-129 is to send spare equipments to the International Space Station to prolong the operations of the 11-year old space research facility. STS-129 is the first of five missions needed to complete its objectives.

A few weeks ago, a food manufacturer wrote to us asking if we would like samples of one of the food that had been selected for this NASA mission. What do you think?? I know this will be interesting reading to our readers … so we said, bring them on.

Three days before Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a package landed in the chowtimes Operations Center in Richmond. That is Richmond, BC … not Richmond, VA.

Have you ever tried Space Food before? I bet you have. Tangs comes to mind for one. Do they still make it these days? Anyway, we did not get Tangs. What we had was …

… Beef Jerkies. LOL!

But seriously, the above is selected by the Astronauts of the Space Shuttle program for the fifth time. The flavor selected is the Black Pepper Beef Jerky.

There is also another flavor in the package sent to us. The Hickory Beef Jerky is made by beefjerky.com.

The STS-129 mission has all four flavors carried by beefjerky.com. We felt kind of disappointed because our packaging did not include the little velcro they had for the astronauts (see this image of the jerky taken from the space shuttle).

The Black Pepper Beef Jerky is our favourite. It is bursting with flavour with a little spiciness from the black pepper. Surprisingly, it is quite moist too. This is made from a 30 year old time-tested family recipe.

The Hickory Beef Jerky is drier and definitely milder than the earlier one.

Anyway, if you want to know about Space Food, here is something from NASA to satisfy your appetite for more info.