NASA sent twelve bottles of red wine to the International Space Station (ISS), in order to conduct a scientific experiment that is classified as unusual.
The objective of the experiment is for Bordeaux red wine to age for a year in space, before returning to Earth to be examined.
Researchers want to know if weightlessness and space radiation affect the aging process. The intention is to develop new flavors and properties for the food industry.
The red bottles, which were packed in a metal container to prevent breakage, were shipped aboard a Northrop Grumman capsule that was launched from Virginia last Saturday and arrived at the International Space Station barely.
Winemaking uses yeast and bacteria and involves chemical processes, which makes the wine ideal for space study, said Michael Lebert, scientific director of the experiment, at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in a video of the company, according to information issued by the business newspaper The Financial Express.
Wine aged in space will be compared to Bordeaux wine aged on Earth.
This is the first of the six space missions planned by Space Cargo Unlimited in the next three years, related to the future of agriculture in a changing world.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure,” Nicolas Gaume, executive director and co-founder of Space Cargo Unlimited, said in a statement.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that a wine goes to space. A French astronaut carried a bottle of wine aboard the Discovery ferry in 1985.
The bottle remained covered in orbit, as detailed by the same means mentioned.
Source: Elnuevodia
