By 
September 10th, 2026
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Tiangong space station has upgraded its in-orbit kitchen. During a space lecture to science class students, the Shenzhou-23 crew —Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying — covered the crew’s daily orbital meals and upgraded food-heating tools aboard the space station.
Lai, Hong Kong’s first payload specialist, explained the heating facilities, which enable astronauts to enjoy freshly heated meals in the microgravity environment.
“The space station is equipped with two heating devices. The lower microwave heating device works on the same principle as household microwaves and is mainly used for heating staple foods like rice. The upper hot-air heating device adopts 360-degree circulating hot air technology, allowing astronauts to have hot meals in less than half an hour,” Lai reported from space.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Hot-air-baking
A newly added hot-air baking machine marks the biggest highlight of the upgraded space kitchen, Lai continued.
“The space station is now equipped with a hot-air baking machine. It has solved the challenge of oil fume purification in confined spaces and can raise the maximum heating temperature to 190 degrees Celsius. This allows us to bake chicken wings, pumpkins and cakes right in the space station,” Lai said.
Go to this China Central Television (CCTV) video at:
Posted in Space News
