How NASA Approved Nutella on Artemis II Orion

NASA had no objections

During the Artemis II mission, a short clip went viral showing a jar of Nutella floating freely inside the Orion spacecraft cabin. The video spread rapidly across social media and triggered a flood of jokes - from calling it the “most expensive advert in history” to people debating why that kind of product was taken into flight at all, and whether it breached space food standards.

How Nutella ended up on Orion during Artemis II

As the discussion grew, many people started asking how a sweet spread could legitimately make it on board. A common assumption was that it must have been a personal item brought by one of the astronauts. However, NASA has a specific category for personal belongings called the Personal Preference Kit (PPK). This is a small pack of permitted personal items, but under the rules it does not include food.

Personal Preference Kit (PPK) rules and rare historical exceptions

There have been only very occasional exceptions in the past - for instance, symbolic religious items during the Apollo 11 mission.

Later, it became clear that Nutella was not “contraband” and was not slipped in as unofficial personal luggage. For Artemis II, NASA allowed the astronauts to decide part of their flight menu themselves. Within sensible limits, they could add familiar products and favourite foods - avoiding anything crumbly or likely to cause issues inside the cabin. That is how the chocolate spread became part of the crew’s official food supply, alongside other items such as Canadian biscuits and maple syrup.

Packaging and mass: why the glass jar was acceptable

In short-duration missions, dietary requirements are not as strict as they are for long expeditions. As a result, the glass jar was not considered a problem: it was approved as a safe and practical part of the onboard food provisions.

In the end, the story was far more straightforward than it appeared on social media. There was no secret attempt to “sneak” anything aboard - Nutella reached orbit entirely officially, chosen by the mission participants and cleared by NASA.

It was previously reported that the Orion spacecraft carrying the crew of the Artemis II lunar mission successfully returned to Earth a little over nine days after launch. High-quality photos of the recovery are available here.

NASA has also published a large set of high-quality Moon photographs taken by the Artemis II crew aboard Orion.