One clear starry night Harold and the doctor were sitting back on old lawn chairs and drinking beer in Dr. Wetbrain’s back yard. In complete silence they stared at the quiet night sky.
Dr. Wetbrain pointed at the night sky and broke the silence, “See that bright, star Harold? That’s the International Space Station. Did you know that ample amount of alcohol was launched to that space station?”
“Right, I’m sure.” Was Harold’s doubtful reply.
“Let me tell you about it.” Dr. Wetbrain smartly replied.
First, all alcohol is prohibited from the International Space Station. Even perfume, hand sanitizer and mouthwash are banned. Though in the early days of space flight Russian cosmonauts confessed to smuggle alcohol on their space mission in juice containers and hollowed out books.
In November 2019, on a Northrop Grumman Antares flew to the I.S.S. with 12 bottles of Red Bordeaux wine for a one-year experiment. Each bottle was stowed in a special steel cylinder. Thank you Space Cargo Unlimited who brought the non-gravity space experiments to the International Space Station. Along for the ride went a bottle each of 320 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
Thank you, Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the voyage of these wines with a successful flight and Earth landing which occurred January 2021. Each steel cylinders were fished up by a SpaceX boat from the Gulf of Mexico then transported by helicopter to NASA’s Space Station Research Lab.
Another non-gravity project onto the I.S.S. was an experiment by the Suntory Whiskey Distillery from Japan. In August 2015, the aging process of whiskey in space was preformed.
Budwiser launched four missions to the International Space Station to experiment on barley in a gravity free environment in hoping to eventually establish a brewery on Mars. Positive thinking!
Working with beer recently September 2021, SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 mission took 30 kilos of hops to I.S.S. which was then auctioned off to Samuel Adams Boston Brewery to make a limited edition of ‘Space Beer’. Very cool is that the auction proceeds went to benefit the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for cancer research.
Lastly on April 2012 Ardbeg Distillery from Islay, Scotland sent up vials of Scotch Whiskey and a few pieces of charred oak on an unmanned cargo flight to the International Space Station for a two-year experiment.
Dr. Wetbrain ends the story with a joke. “A small space craft flew beside the I.S.S. with two green aliens inside it. One spoke out, “Look Zork a new liquor store!”
Harold rolling his eyes, “Not funny Wetbrain!”
