The First Cookie Ever Baked in Space Comes Courtesy of This Hotel Chain

Mike Pomranz

Imagine deep into the future… the year 2019. (Just pretend for a second.) Who will be the first brand to bake cookies in space? Those magical Keebler Elves? The fake seafarers over at Chips Ahoy? Maybe the happily-married Mrs. Fields? Nope. Today, it’s been announced that the first cookie ever to be baked in space is set, and it comes courtesy of… DoubleTree by Hilton?

Courtesy of DoubleTree
Courtesy of DoubleTree

Yes, DoubleTree has been using the promise of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to lure in guests for years, but unexpectedly enough, Hilton is now taking that promotion to new heights: over 200 miles above the Earth. DoubleTree cookies will become “the first food baked in space inside a prototype oven designed to make long-duration space travel more hospitable,” the brand states.

Courtesy of DoubleTree
Courtesy of DoubleTree

In a partnership with microgravity appliance maker Zero G Kitchen and commercial space travel provider NanoRacks, DoubleTree by Hilton is planning to send some of their cookie dough up to the International Space Station later this year to test Zero G Kitchen’s new oven, the first ever to be used on the ISS for freshly baked food. “Opening up the frontier of space means making it relatable to people’s everyday lives, and what could be more relatable than a freshly baked cookie?” said Ian Fichtenbaum, co-chef and co-founder of Zero G Kitchen.

You can hear Ian and his co-founder/wife Jordana explain a bit about how the oven works in the video below…

Of all the iconic cookie brands out there, DoubleTree by Hilton might seem like an odd first, but Shawn McAteer, senior vice president and global brand head for DoubleTree by Hilton, believes otherwise. “Hilton has long been an industry innovator, and as we celebrate our 100th year, we’re excited to send our hospitality into orbit,” he said. “The simple gesture of a warm Cookie welcome is a favorite of DoubleTree guests around the world, and now we are sharing that moment of hospitality as part of this experiment aboard the International Space Station.”

Meanwhile, on terra firma, DoubleTree says they will be celebrating this one small step for fresh baked cookies on August 4 — also National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day — by giving anyone who comes into a participating DoubleTree hotel, guest or otherwise, a complimentary DoubleTree Cookie. Consider that the “giant leap for mankind” part.