ORRVILLE − The Artemis II crew had a big food request when returning from its mission around the moon — “uncrusted sandwiches.”
Message received.
J.M. Smucker Co., the Wayne County-based food-maker, took to Instagram on the day the four astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, offering them a lifetime supply of Uncrustables, the frozen crustless sandwiches.
The account also posted, “@nasaartemis you rang? we’ve got the crew covered on the OG uncrusted sandwiches from here on out…no joke.”
The marketing team that controls the Instagram account was responding to a report that the U.S. Navy provided a plentiful supply of “uncrusted sandwiches” to the astronauts on the U.S.S. John Murtha, where the astronauts were taken after the splashdown.
One person replied to the Instagram post, “I’d become an astronaut just to get free uncrustables as well.”
However, the astronauts likely can’t accept the offer.
The federal employee ethics code on NASA’s website prohibits employees, including astronauts, from accepting gifts of more than $20 related to their official position. And they can’t endorse a commercial product.
But the Smucker marketing team can milk a lot of publicity from its offer, as well as the fact that a jar of Jif peanut butter was reportedly floating in zero gravity above an astronaut’s head in a video from the Orion spacecraft during its epic mission, according to collectspace.com.
Other brands seeking to take advantage of the Artemis marketing opportunities included Nutella and Charmin toilet paper. A video of a floating jar of Nutella went viral. Nutella changed its Instagram profile picture to an image of a jar of Nutella floating in front of the moon with the tagline “spreading smiles all the way to space.”
Proctor & Gamble, based in Cincinnati, offered the astronauts a year’s supply of its Charmin toilet paper after the spacecraft’s space toilet stopped working.
USA TODAY posted an Instagram video by astronaut Christina Koch showing her being excitedly greeted by her dog Sadie after she returned home after the Artemis II mission. Cue up the offers of free samples of dog food and dog products to the astronaut.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Smucker offers Uncrustables for life to astronauts
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
