 The soup has even played a role in the Soviet space program . In March 1961 , as part of a communications equipment test , a pre @-@ recorded recipe for borscht was broadcast from the Korabl @-@ Sputnik 4 spacecraft . The craft , carrying animals and a mannequin , had been launched into low Earth orbit in preparation for manned space flights . Actual borscht eventually made its way into outer space as space food for Soviet and , later , Russian cosmonauts . Originally , a puréed version of borscht was supplied in tubes . All ingredients for the space borscht ( which include beef , beetroots , cabbage , potatoes , carrots , onions , parsley root and tomato paste ) were cooked separately , then combined one by one in strictly controlled order , sterilized , packed into tubes , sealed airtight and autoclaved . In the 1970s , the tubes were replaced with packages of <unk> freeze @-@ dried borscht with regular @-@ size bits of cooked vegetables . 
