UPPER WEST SIDE — Forget dehydrated ice cream, today's astronauts dine on shrimp cocktail.
Pilot Doug Hurley chowed down on the seafood delicacy twice a day during the Atlantis space shuttle's final mission, he told an eager group of students at the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday.
"I almost turned into a shrimp, I think at one point," Hurley said at the first New York City appearance he and his crewmates have made since returning to Earth on July 21.
The space shuttle menu was one of several out-of-this-world facts the astronauts shared with hundreds of students who packed the museum to hear from the last crew to participate in the country's shuttle program.
The audience quizzed them about whether there are germs in space — NASA is studying this — and whether muscles weaken in zero gravity — they do, that's why astronauts exercise.
Commander Chris Ferguson said the best part about being in space is "floating like a fish."
He described the final moments of countdown before the Atlantis lifted off as a "spectacular" experience. "The rocket gets more and move alive," Ferguson said. There's a low rumble that feels like an earthquake, followed by a violent bouncing. "It's not very loud, but there's an incredible amount of vibration," Ferguson said.
Eric Chen, a 12-year-old student from Saint David's School on the Upper East Side, said that seeing astronauts in person was exciting. "But I felt kind of sad, too, because I'm not going to become a shuttle astronaut," Chen said, referring to the end of NASA's shuttle program.
Astronauts Hurley, Ferguson, Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim got a rockstar welcome of cheers and applause as they descended a staircase, waving and smiling to the crowd before they took their seats on stage.
Even adults felt the thrill of being in the same room with the handful of human beings who've trekked to outer space and back.
Daniel Wing, 42, took the 6:55 a.m. train from Albany to catch a glimpse of the astronauts in person and said he felt "excited and nervous" to be near them.
Wing grew up following NASA's Apollo, Voyager and Viking missions. He said he was worried about the future of human space flight now that NASA has ended the shuttle program.
"The civilization that stops exploring starts atrophying," Wing said. "I don't want the U.S. to start withering and dying. One way to do that is to ensure that we have a robust space program."
The astronauts said during their talk that NASA was setting its sights on missions to Mars.
