Lavazza, the First Espresso in Outer Space
On May 3, 2015, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti became the first person to drink a freshly brewed shot of authentic Italian espresso in outer space.
Cristoforetti got her first sip of espresso in months after the SpaceX Dragon carried a specially made Lavazza espresso coffee maker to the international space station. True to form, she took it while wearing her Star Trek costume.
This was all made possible by the cooperation of two companies in Turin, Italy: Lavazza which has been roasting coffee since 1895 and aero-space engineering company Argotec. Lavazza dream has always been to provide a perfect coffee experience on Earth; it appears now they have set their goal higher.
Cristoforetti will fly back to Earth with American astronaut Terry Virts and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov on board Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft next Thursday.
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It is exciting to hear about the firsts of something. Having the first shot of authentic Italian espresso in outer space in 2015 is incredible. In 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, but it still took 46 years after that to have espresso in outer space. It is insane to think about how long it took to make Lavazza, and make it possible to enjoy a cup of caffeine in space. It must be nice to now be able to have espresso in space, I can’t imagine all the energy it takes to perform the tasks up there they need to complete.