['Top Chef' -- 'Gastro-Nauts']

Twelve episodes into this seventh season of 'Top Chef' and we're still being treated to little nuggets of info about the remaining cheftestants. Angelo, for instance, got divorced last year and has a son. (An interesting development since, in a recent episode, he talked about wanting to win the prize money so he could bring his fiancée over from Russia.)

And, Kelly, who seems to smoke at every possible opportunity, has never been away from her husband, Rick, for more than a few days. Whatever. There's no time to wallow here, folks: The last two challenges before the finale are upon you. Shake a leg.

Dana Cowin, the editor in chief of 'Food & Wine' magazine is waiting in the kitchen with Padma Lakshmi to explain the final Quickfire Challenge: The chefs have to choose a wine from the selection in front of them and create a dish to pair it with. As a bonus, the winner will win a trip to London. "Ten percent of pairings are awful," says Cowin wrinkling her nose, "Ten are inspired." Where these chefs' offerings will fall within the spectrum, we'll soon see.

As usual, Angelo's a know it all. "Wine is one of my biggest passions," he brags. "I go to vineyards a lot." While Tiffany, fumbling a bit, says, "This is not my strength. We have a wine guy at the restaurant who does my pairings."

After tasting the dishes, Cowin (who may know a lot about food but was clearly absent that day in etiquette class when they taught that your lips, not your teeth, are supposed to touch the fork) singled out both Tiffany's Cocoa and Black Pepper-Crusted Wagyu Tenderloin with a shiraz and Angelo's Sautéed Foie Gras with Evolution white wine were as the top of the class. She deemed Kenny's Quail (which he subbed-in at the last second for a pork loin that hadn't cooked in time) and merlot, and Kelly's Wild Boar Tenderloin with zinfandel as the most disappointing.

Ultimately, Angelo's dish squeaked through, leaving Kevin to muse that "Angelo wins again. Maybe he's got his mojo back." Maybe. But, it's when Padma tells the crew that the final challenges will take place in Singapore, that Angelo shifts into overdrive. "I tingle when I think about it" he says of his desire to visit that country.

But, first, there's one more challenge to contend with and it's on to NASA where the instructions for the Elimination Challenge are handed down from two astronauts on the International Space Station. Amazinlgy, even gazillions of miles in outer space, the writers still get their puns in. "Design a dish that's truly out of this world," says NASA's Tracy Caldwell Dyson. "Create a dish that follows the guidelines for zero gravity and, shoot for the stars."

"I'm sort of a space nerd," reveals Kelly, who cops to once having spent the summer at space camp. "For me to have my food go into space would be really cool." As cool as preparing food for Buzz Aldrin? Tom Colicchio explains that the guest list will include the famed astronaut (and 'Dancing with the Stars' challenger) as well as a host of other NASA bigwigs.

After being given a crash course in what freeze-dries well -- too sweet = bad, spicy = good, big chunks of ingredients = bad -- the games begin.

"I'm nervous about this," says Kevin. "To take food that we normally do down here and make it delicious and something that can be served in outer space, I can't even wrap my head around how they eat up there."

No time to wrap heads, Kev, just get cooking.

Everything seems normal in the kitchen as they set about prepping their space meals for the following day -- everything that is until, with very little time to go, Tiffany realizes that the mussels she'd put in the fridge have all frozen and died. "All you have to do is cook food that tastes really, really good," Ed says in an attempt to buoy her spirits. "I don't think it's out of control." Tiff doesn't look too convinced, but tomorrow's another day.

"We have one hour to cook," sums up Kevin as they arrive at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. "There's five chefs left and only four seats to Singapore. That fifth person, the one that's not going, is going to be crushed."

With their food prepared, chefs begin service to their guests of the evening -- a smattering of astronauts including Buzz Aldrin, NASA's top food scientist and the judge-du-jour, Anthony Bourdain.

With only five dishes to eat, the service seems to go relatively quickly and, but for a bit of ribbing between Bourdain and "The Ripper" as he jokingly refers to Eric Ripert, the conversation remains utterly benign if not altogether pleasant. "What was the first thing you ate in space?" Padma asks Aldrin. "You don't want me to say 'Tang' do you?" deadpans the Apollo 11 vet.

Back at Judges' Table, the five get a rare compliment from Colicchio. "You guys did an amazing job today cooking, the difference between the winner and losers is really small." After a few minutes of primarily laudatory reviews being bandied about, the chefs were then dismissed to let the judges deliberate and it became rapidly apparent that while some judges might have had personal preferences, all the food had been good. "I think what this illustrates," said Colicchio bringing the judging to a close, "is that all five of these dishes are very good. We're splitting hairs here."

The winning dish, as Bourdain announced, was Angelo's Ginger-Lacquered Short Ribs, which gained him not only the win, the car and berth in the finale, but also a trip to watch the Space Shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral. "This is too much to embrace as a human to be honest with you," he said.

"I wish all four of you could come with us [to Singapore]" said Colicchio before Padma delivered the final decision that it was Tiffany would have to pack her knives. (Dagnabbit!) "The worst part is that you made it that far," said Tiff, dabbing her eyes. "You just have to know that you did good. And, I'm just happy to be a part of it."