Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide may flying in space, but his orbital menu can be found right here on Earth.

Hoshide took packages of curry noodles, veggie pancakes and skewered chicken as part of his daily menu aboard the shuttle Discovery and International Space Station. To give us an idea of his food, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency passed some out to the press pool here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Everybody likes the noodles,” JAXA spokesperson Kumiko Tanabe told me as we chowed down.

JAXA’s three dishes for Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide’s menu during the June 2008 flight of Discovery’s STS-124 mission. Credit: SPACE.com/T. Malik.

The food is provided by Nissin Food Products, Co., Ltd., in Japan under a collaboration with JAXA and its astronauts. Some of them also flew in March with Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, Tanabe said.

Each of the different meals come dehydrated, and need to be pumped up with hot water for about five minutes.

The Space Noodles come with a drippy curry sauce, while the Space Negima, the skewered chicken, comes complete with green onions and sauce. There’s also Space Okonomi, a sort of vegetable pancake soaked in a sweet fruit-based sauce.

Asking around, the Space Noodles were in fact a hit, especially among the Japanese reporters. Some of the space center folks, though, enjoyed the chicken most all. This space reporter, however, confesses that the Space Okonomi was the tastiest.

Versions of JAXA’s current food selection, plus others like green tea drinks and salmon rice balls, will accompany Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata when he launches to the station as Japan’s first long-duration astronaut next year during the Expedition 18 mission.

Click here for SPACE.com’s ongoing coverage of NASA’s STS-124 mission to deliver Japan’s $1 billion Kibo laboratory and NASA astroanut Greg Chamitoff to the International Space Station.

Click here for more images of JAXA’s Japanese space food.

And in case you want to see what eating space food on Earth looks like…

JAXA’s Space Negima in action. Credit: Robert Pearlman/collectSPACE.com.