ALTON — The Space Shuttle landed in downtown Alton on Saturday — that is the Space Shuttle Cafe.
The unique food truck is built in the fuselage of a WWII C-47 cargo plane, and it now has a forever home at the Flock Food Truck Park and Bar at 210 Ridge Street. The cafe and another food truck called Byrdies, will be permanent fixtures of the food truck park.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind kitchen on wheels,” said past chef Dennis Rodgers, who watched the unloading of the cafe. “It has flattops, fryers, a char grill, freezers, and even has a shake machine to make milkshakes.”
The Space Shuttle Cafe was last stationed in Swansea and was purchased by AltonWorks for Flock. The C-47, and its civilian counterpart, the DC-3, were workhorses of the early days of aviation with some 16,000 being built. The Space Shuttle Cafe is an original C-47 fuselage that reportedly saw action during WWII. Converted to a truck, with add-ons to make it resemble a wingless space shuttle, the truck retains its original gauge panel in the cockpit. The majority of the interior is a full-service kitchen that previous resident chefs of the cafe said is as complete as any kitchen they have ever worked in.
This season’s chef is Ramone McNeese. He said he would have chicken strips, wraps, loaded nachos, and loaded fries available at the Space Shuttle Cafe.
“Think anything you can get at a carnival as the menu,” McNeese said.
In the 1970s, H.L. “Smokey” Rolland found a DC-3/C-47 in a scrap pile and mounted it to a school bus frame. After several years, the vehicle was sold to Robert and Heike Pfeiffer, and they were reportedly inspired by NASA to create the shuttle-based theme.
Originally, it was “The Smile Shuttle,” and it was taken to Europe, where it toured in the 1980s. When it returned from Europe, it was placed in the Mojave Desert until it was found by Phil and Becky Petersen, who spent four years renovating the vehicle into a food truck. A food entrepreneur in New York City then purchased the food truck and spent five years renovating it into a full commercial kitchen. The pandemic prevented it from actually being used as a kitchen, and it was again put up for sale.
According to AltonWorks, John and Holly Michel, founders of Soulcial Kitchen, acquired the food truck in early 2021 as part of their Mobility as a Mission Food Truck Hospitality Fleet. They operated it as a fully functional cafe in their food truck park, staffed by participants in their Department of Labor-certified Food Truck Apprentice Program. The Space Shuttle Cafe by @Food is Love TV, will feature chefs Rodgers and McNeese this year, with Soulcial Kitchen‘s John Michel leading the team. Rodgers, who was leading the team last season, graduated from Soulcial Kitchen’s Food Truck Apprenticeship Program and will mentor McNeese through this season.
