Space food and protective heat tiles from NASA are now available to students as learning tools. 

NASA booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival

Each kit will include three items so that students can see the variety of options available to astronauts. These items are ready to eat by adding water or heating them up.

The NASA Space Program ended late last July, with the final landing of Shuttle Atlantis and its four astronaut passengers. 

The dining situation for astronauts came a long way by adding multiple dining options so that astronauts could substitute foods based on their own tastes. They could order meals like potatoes au gratin, frankfurters, and Mexican scrambled eggs.

Originally, many of the foods sent on space missions were very unappetizing, such as tubes of gelatin-covered food and squeeze tubes. 

NASA said that the tiles they're offering were used to protect shuttles from high temperature when re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

Both the astronaut food and the tiles are now available to eligible schools. Additional information about bringing space food and heat protective tiles to schools can be found here.

Reach reporter Anita Dukart here.