Cultivated steak with a glass of Tang, please.

American kids in the 1960s celebrated when Mom accorded Space Food Sticks and Tang a permanent space in lunchboxes and at the breakfast table. And Space Food Sticks — a Tootsie Roll-like concoction — and Tang, a powdered orange bug juice — made the most of their NASA halo.

Two generations later, NASA could tee up an encore, to the benefit of the alternative meat industry. Even if “lab grown” is no longer a source of…