Tray, Food Heating, Skylab

Astronauts used food trays identical to this one in the Skylab galley/wardroom. Three trays were attached to a central pedestal to form a table. Each tray had eight openings to hold canned food, three of them electrically heated. Each crew member selected his food, set the timer to heat some of the items, and then used the tray as his place at the table for meals. The menu selection and food preparation capabilities aboard Skylab were much broader than on previous spaceflights. This made life aboard Skylab more comfortable during the months-long missions in 1973-1974.This spare tray, transferred from NASA to the Museum in 1981, is installed in the backup Skylab orbital workshop.