“At the time, they were creating an oven with Nanoracks (now Voyager Space) that could bake raw ingredients in space. And they invited DoubleTree by Hilton to have its cookie [as] the first food baked on board the International Space Station.”
From there, the partnership began.

“The aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies [finally] wafted through the space station — adding a reminder of the simple joys of home to an experiment designed to make long-duration space flight more hospitable.” (iStock / iStock)
In 2019, Hilton became the first hospitality company to participate in research aboard the International Space Station when astronauts baked DoubleTree chocolate chip cookies in the landmark science experiment, he said.
“[After] trial and error, the aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafted through the space station — adding a reminder of the simple joys of home to an experiment designed to make long-duration space flight more hospitable,” said McAteer.
How was the cookie preserved?
“The frozen cookie arrived at the Smithsonian in 2021,” said Jennifer Levasseur, PhD, museum curator at the Department of Space History in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
“The cookie was defrosted and dehydrated over a two-month period in 2023.”