A Surprising Amount of Booze Has Flown Into Space

2016-02-02T18:08:00.000Z

astronaut wine — Show host T.J. Miller wears a spacesuit as he poses backstage at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

NASA has a strict no alcohol policy for its astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

But it wasn't always that way.

From Russian cognac to American beer, a surprising amount of alcohol has traveled into microgravity.

Keep scrolling for a brief history of alcohol in space, and why it's still being launched to the ISS even though no astronauts are drinking it.

The presence of alcohol in space dates all the way back to the 80s and the Soviet Union space station called Mir. At that time, cognac was actually doctor-recommended for Russian cosmonauts.

6c7972742 060117_alcohol_hmed_3p.nbcnews ux 2880 1000 — Cosmonauts enjoying some cognac. NASA

Alexander Lazutkin, a cosmonaut who spent time aboard Russia's Mir space station, opened up to reporters about drinking in space:

"During prolonged space missions, especially at the beginning of the Space Age, we had alcoholic drinks in the cosmonauts' rations," the Interfax news agency quoted him saying in 2010. "This was cognac, which the doctors recommended for use. We used it to stimulate our immune system and on the whole to keep our organisms in tone."

It's unclear whether or not Russian cosmonauts drink on the ISS now.

NASA, on the other hand, is much more strict. It maintains that no astronauts drink in space. But that wasn't always the case.

astronauts_drinking_header — Astronauts enjoying some non-alcoholic beverages in Prohibition space. NASA

There was that time astronaut Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon.

According to The Guardian, Aldrin gave this account of taking communion on the moon:

"I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements."

NASA never broadcast the ceremony.

And sherry almost made the final menu for NASA's Skylab space station.

As NASA worker Charles Bourland explained in his book "The Astronaut's Cookbook":

"Sherry is a very stable product, having been heated during the processing. Thus, it would be the least likely to undergo changes if it were to be repackaged."

He included it on a draft of the menu for astronauts in the 70s.

But the public didn't react favorably when word got out that alcohol would be on the menu for the next space mission.

skylab space station nasa photos 1 — NASA's Skylab space station. NASA

"Let's just say that no one here is enthused about publicizing this thing any more than necessary," astronaut Edward G. Gibson who flew on the third Skylab mission, told the Milwaukee Journal in 1972. "The problem is that you have got some extremists around and we (astronauts) kind of represent a form of purity. As soon as you taint that purity with alcohol, they really get upset," Gibson said.

After that article was published, the angry letters started arriving in NASA's mailbox.

So NASA did some serious back pedaling and created a hard "no alcohol" rule.

Alcohol is actually still allowed on the space station, but only if it arrives in the form of a science experiment.

MELFI12 — The storage unit for a microbial experiment on the ISS. NASA

One of these experiments included attempting to brew beer — which is done using yeast — in space.

A research project from the University of Colorado brewed a tiny batch of beer in space and they found that it had a much higher alcohol content than beer brewed on the ground.

Others have tried brewing beer with yeast or barley that's spent time in space.

ninkasi yeast from space — Ninkasi's "space yeast" samples. YouTube/Ninkasi

For example, last year the brewery Ninkasi released a beer called "Ground Control" that was made from yeast that spent time on the ISS.

A Japanese distillery recently sent whiskey to the ISS to find out how zero gravity influenced the flavor.

—Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) July 31, 2015

When it gets back to Earth we really want the distillery to send us a sample ...

Experiments with alcohol in space are a good idea, since even if NASA doesn't change its no drinking policy, private companies headed to space might want to offer future paying customers a cocktail during their visit to the edge of space.

Beer probably won't be an option for zero-gravity travelers though.

In space there's no gravity to draw all that froth to the bottom of the stomach, so astronauts would get a serious case of burps or an upset stomach.

"That's one of the reasons why we don't have carbonated beverages (of any kind) on the space menu," NASA spokesperson William Jeffs told New Scientist.

Other types of alcohol are likely safe to drink in space, but it's clear we'll need more research before the first space bars open — especially if astronauts want to do the brewing themselves.

A surprising amount of booze has flown into space

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Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

A surprising amount of booze has flown into space

The presence of alcohol in space dates all the way back to the 80s and the Soviet Union space station called Mir. At that time, cognac was actually doctor-recommended for Russian cosmonauts.

NASA, on the other hand, is much more strict. It maintains that no astronauts drink in space. But that wasn't always the case.

There was that time astronaut Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon.

And sherry almost made the final menu for NASA's Skylab space station.

But the public didn't react favorably when word got out that alcohol would be on the menu for the next space mission.

So NASA did some serious back pedaling and created a hard "no alcohol" rule.

Alcohol is actually still allowed on the space station, but only if it arrives in the form of a science experiment.

One of these experiments included attempting to brew beer — which is done using yeast — in space.

Others have tried brewing beer with yeast or barley that's spent time in space.

A Japanese distillery recently sent whiskey to the ISS to find out how zero gravity influenced the flavor.

Experiments with alcohol in space are a good idea, since even if NASA doesn't change its no drinking policy, private companies headed to space might want to offer future paying customers a cocktail during their visit to the edge of space.

Beer probably won't be an option for zero-gravity travelers though.

Other types of alcohol are likely safe to drink in space, but it's clear we'll need more research before the first space bars open — especially if astronauts want to do the brewing themselves.

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

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Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know