A quick look at astronaut coffee
"Behind the moon, I was by myself, all alone but not lonesome. I felt very comfortable back there. I even had hot coffee,"
—Michael Collins, Apollo 11 command module pilot
As important as ice cream is, coffee was (and is!) also very important to astronauts, but it wasn't until the Apollo program that astronauts could drink it in orbit. Prior to that, an astronaut had to settle for their coffee with their pre-launch steak breakfasts. NASA had decided, quite wisely, that the limited space available in Mercury program and Gemini program spacecraft was too limited for hot beverages to be safely prepared, what with zero gravity and delicate and vital electronic components everywhere. When it was finally made available, it was soluble 'instant' coffee, not the greatest thing in the world, but sill crucial for crew function and happiness. “Coffee is important to everyone,”, says astronaut Scott Kelly. NASA does respond to taste preferences, too. Scott Kelly tells how NASA procured his preferred Starbucks coffee; astronauts clearly need to be kept happy, and NASA will go the extra mile.
Over time, doubtless fussier astronauts demanded more of their coffee, and led of course by the Italians, slowly the ability to make good coffee in space became clear to space agencies. To begin with, astronauts took coffee into space in airtight pouches containing instant coffee, to which is added hot water. Later experiments and developments by engineering students at Rice Univeristy developed new techniques for astronauts to make their own coffee however they want it and whenever they want it.
The trio of students called themselves Houston We Have Coffee, and they designed a system of bags and hoses that allows freeze-dried cream and sugar to be injected with hot water in space. Once liquified, the cream and sugar can be added to the bags of freeze-dried Kona coffee already in use.
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Coffee or Die
one small step for coffee, a giant leap for astronautkind.
ISSpresso, italian espresso in orbit.
The Italisn Space AGency ISA, partnered with the space tech company Argotech and esspresso machine makers lavazza, to provide the ability for space crews to brew on the international SPace Station. NASA signed off on the experiment and authorised the inclusion of a specially-built machine as cargo, which was eventually flown on 14 April 2015, on SpaceX mission CRS-6. Two weeks later, presumably after installation and safety testing, italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti drank the first espresso in micro-gravity conditions, and on 30 September 2017, Paolo Nespoli used the espresso machine on board the ISS to celebrate International Coffee Day.5
The 40-pound (20kg) machine had special build qualities and components to allow for safe zero-g operation; this was not your average espresso machine. Metal components replaced plastic, and care had to be taken to ensure that high-pressure leakage was eliminated, along with many failsafes. Astronauts could choose either a short black 'espresso of 30ml or a 60ml 'long black'; the machine also enabled the dispensing of hot water for other hot beverages (tea or broth).
How to drink coffee in space
"How did they drink it?", i hear you ask. I'm glad you did; they used specially-designed zero-gravity espresso cups, using the principle of capillary action to allow the user to drink their fresh brew. Of course, there exists video footage of the cups in operation, here.
what next for space coffee?
Where from here? Well i visualise some sort of vacuuum brewer, appropriately enough. I imagine it being heated electrically, allowed to brew before being cooled sufficiently and injected (using the residual pressure from the brewing process) into cups and being ready to drink. It will be a while however before zero-G cappuccino or a flat white will be available, but doubtless somewhere, someone's already working on that, hopefully in time for lunar colonists to enjoy their lovely espresso drinks in their Moonbase home. of course, even in reduced gravity, regular cups would be used. The moon's ⅕G will be sufficient, even.
Written for Iron Noder '25, № 20
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