* Astronomy

Astronauts' food has come on by giant leaps and bounds since the first manned missions
40 years ago today, man moonwalked for the first time. The world gazed agog at black and white heavens or monochrome tellies, and shared the age-defining moment. Boldly the going, final the frontier, conquered the skies. And America socked it to the Ruskies.
When The Eagle had landed, Armstrong and Aldrin sat down to lunar delicacies including 'thermostabilised cheddar cheese' and gelatine-covered, dehydrated bacon cubes. (The gelatine prevented crumbs dispersing in the cabin: a serious danger, as The Simpsons' sublime homage to Kubrick shows.) But eating on Apollo 11 was a vast improvement on earlier space food. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, was lucky enough to sample an exquisite-sounding 'beef and vegetable paste', which he squeezed into his mouth from a metal toothpaste tube.

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