London - They can send human beings light years away to the final frontier, but even Nasa hasn’t figured out how to separate an Italian from their morning espresso.
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian female in space - and also the first person to sample a proper short black coffee at zero gravity.
The spacewoman, who docked safely at the International Space Station earlier this week, was travelling with a Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov who in line with Russian tradition brought along 15 boxes of caviar.
Cristoforetti, Shkaplerov and American astronaut Terry Virts are to stay at the space station until May 2015.
“There will be 15 boxes of 30 grams each of caviar, but also apples, oranges, tomatoes and 140 doses of freeze dried milk and black tea without sugar,” a space station official told Russian news agency TASS.
Cristoforetti will be able to get her morning caffeine fix after celebrated Italian coffee makers Lavazza teamed up with space food specialist engineering firm Argotec to create a special and lightweight machine.
However she may have to drink it through a straw as liquids including drinks and soups are normally consumed in this way to stop them contaminating equipment.
Cristoforetti, 37, a captain in the Italian air force, “will be not only the first female astronaut from Italy to go into space, but also the very first astronaut in the history of the conquest of space to savour an authentic Italian espresso in orbit,” the two companies said.
The International Space Station is a joint project funded mostly by Nasa but astronauts are transported there only by Russia after the US ended its space shuttle program in 2011.
Most of the food on board is preserved and vacuum-sealed. The sense of taste is reduced in space so extra spices are added.
Astronauts eagerly await any new spaceships as they bring fresh fruit and vegetables with them which cannot be grown in space. - Daily Mail