This year marked the 10th anniversary of NASA’s HUNCH Culinary Challenge, a food science and culinary competition for high school students held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. The stakes are higher than sky high in this annual contest, where the grand prize is the winning dish produced for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Finalists from 10 schools—nine American, one from Luxembourg—gathered in April in Houston to face a panel of 24 (!) judges who would determine which signature dish was truly “out of this world.” This year’s theme was pasta, and the recipes developed had to meet strict nutrition requirements, all while providing appealing flavor profiles and navigating the challenges unique to long-term food preservation in outer space...