By Megan Byrne, actress in When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

The “tang” in our play title WHEN TANG MET LAIKA refers to Kraft’s orange-flavored soft drink, not the Chinese dynasty as some have thought. In 1965, NASA began using Tang on the Gemini flights. Subsequently, the general public came to associate the beverage with astronauts. NASA stopped serving Tang in space after the Gemini program. However for Americans of a certain generation, including President Obama, Tang will forever be thought of as the astronaut drink. In March 2009, while on a video conference with the orbiting crew of space shuttle Discovery, the President jokingly asked “Do you guys still drink Tang up there?”

 
Growing up, I also thought of Tang as the astronaut drink. It wasn’t until I began working on this play that I was introduced to some of the non-beverage uses for the orange powder. I play Samantha, wife of astronaut Patrick Norman. Sam makes Tang pie in the play. The key ingredient is, you guessed it, Tang. The pie tastes a bit like a creamsicle to me, but you should try it for yourself. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Tang orange drink powder
8 oz. sour cream
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 graham cracker pie crusts

Preparation:
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into the two pie crusts. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving. Bon appétit!

Tang is not just for consumption. Apparently you can also use Tang to clean discoloration and scale from your dishwasher. Add one half container of Tang to your detergent and run a regular cycle. The citric acid present in the mixture helps to loosen up the hard water deposits and remove scale from your dishwasher. I admit I myself haven’t tried this out, but some people swear by it.

So the next time you are at the supermarket, you might want to consider heading down the powdered drinks aisle and throwing a container of Tang into your cart. Could come in handy. You never know when you might get the urge to whip up some Tang pie, clean your dishwasher or mix up a drink for an astronaut.

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