John Young was the longest-serving astronaut in NASA history. Following his first flight in 1965, he spent 835 hours in space and walked on the moon. He died last Friday at the age of 87. His career was legendary, but it was almost ruined by a sandwich. A lot of time and money goes into feeding NASA’s astronauts, writes Atlas Obscura. Safety is the priority, not taste, and food particles can be dangerous: they could be accidentally inhaled or they could gum up machinery. Flakes from a corned beef on rye sandwich are no joke. But 34-year-old Young wasn’t thinking about these dangers when he accepted a corned beef sandwich from fellow astronaut — and known jokester — Wally Schirra on March 23, 1965. Young zipped the sandwich, which Schirra had bought at Wolfie’s Restaurant and Sandwich Shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida, into his spacesuit before boarding the spacecraft for his first journey into space. It was a two-man space flight, and Young was accompanied by his commander, Virgil “Gus” Grissom. Young showed the sandwich to Grissom, who said it was “pretty good, though, if it would just hold together.” It was probably disposed of back on Earth, and the astronauts and the shuttle were totally fine. But then, Congress heard about the sandwich, who said that Grissom and Young had wasted millions of dollars because they ate the sandwich instead of the food they were sent with. Young was the first member of a NASA space flight who was given a reprimand. Young later lamented that the “sandwich didn’t even come with mustard or pickles.”
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