CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Talk about a cosmic caffeine jolt. The international space station is getting an Italian espresso machine.
Astronauts of all nationalities — but especially the Italians — have long grumbled about the tepid instant coffee served in pouches and drunk with straws 260 miles above Earth. The pouches and straws aren’t going away, but at least the brew will pack some zero-gravity punch.
The specially designed espresso machine is dubbed ISSpresso — ISS for international space station.
Its launch early next year from Wallops Island, Va., in Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus cargo ship, is timed to coincide with the six-month mission of Italy’s first female astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti, 37, a fighter pilot and Italian air force captain.
“How cool is that?” she said in a tweet this month. “I’ll get to operate the first space espresso machine!”
Besides espresso, ISSpresso is capable of whipping up tea and consommé. The Associated Press
