The dawn of the Space Age left an entire generation fantasizing about becoming astronauts, floating free above Earth’s surface with a window directly to the stars. But humanity might have reconsidered those daydreams if they knew what astronauts had to eat.

The first meals in space were rather revolting affairs. And while astronaut food has slowly improved, modern spacefarers still come home pining for their favorite dish — and complaining about the grub in orbit.

When NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned from her record-breaking 328-day spaceflight earlier this month — the longest ever for a female astronaut — she was desperate for chips and salsa. You can’t have crunchy food on the International Space Station, she explained to The Associated Press; the crumbs might be hazardous to equipment.

First space food

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth. He also was the first person to eat in space.

Gagarin’s crumb-free meal featured two portions of pureed meat, stored neatly in toothpaste-tube-like containers. To eat it, he simply squeezed the food directly into his mouth. And for dessert? Mission planners were kind enough to include a tube of chocolate sauce.

The following year, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. (Astronaut Alan Shepard flew to space first, but his 15-minute suborbital flight was so short he didn’t eat.)

Glenn’s meal selection wasn’t any better than Gagarin’s, but at least NASA packed him a straw. Glenn was served up a tube of applesauce, plus some sugar tablets that he dissolved in water. He was also issued pureed beef and vegetables in a tube, which now belongs to the National Air and Space Museum.