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Noguchi to feast on space noodles during Discovery flight

Nissin Food Products Co. Chairman Momofuku Ando shows off a packet of "Space Ram" noodles in Osaka on Wednesday.

OSAKA -- Soichi Noguchi will be able to enjoy a good meal of noodles on the Space Shuttle Discovery thanks to the development of "space noodles," which have been brought onto the flight.

The noodles, called "Space Ram," were jointly developed by Nissin Food Products Co. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. on Wednesday morning, 95-year-old Momofuku Ando, the founding chairman of Nissin who came up with the idea for the space noodles, presented the snack at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.

After slurping them down, he said, "These are just right." He added: "If it's possible I would love to go to space too."

Research on space noodles began in 2001. With normal noodles, the soup and the noodles float away in zero gravity. To solve the problem, a block of noodles is put in a clear pack with dried flavoring and soup, and water with a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius, the limit for use in the shuttle, is added. The noodles are combined with the soup, which has a thick consistency, enabling them to be eaten with chopsticks or a fork.

The noodles come dried and fused with oil using an instant-noodle method developed in 1958, and they are ready for eating after five minutes.

The "ram" from "Space Ram" is an abbreviation for ramen. The available flavors are regular and curry with a soy sauce base, miso, and tonkotsu flavor, which Noguchi requested. The noodles will be on public display at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum from Thursday.