NordenBladet – Australian space beer company Vostok is aiming to raise $1 million to launch its galactic brew. As you might imagine, drinking beer in space isn’t as simple as popping a bottle cap. Typically, and somewhat less glamorously, drinking anything in space involves sucking it from a bag using a straw.
Although imbibing is prohibited onboard the International Space Station, space tourism is on the horizon – the push is on to devise a method of drinking during spaceflights just as people do on land.
In 2011, Australia’s 4 Pines Brewing Company and Saber Astronautics joined forces to create the world’s first space beer, Vostok – a “dry, Irish-style stout.” And now they’re aiming to raise US$1 million to launch it, bottled in a vessel that will pour in zero gravity. “We’ve created the beer and created the bottle. Now it’s just piecing them altogether,” says 4 Pines’ Jaron Mitchell said in a crowdfunding video.
Jason Held, CEO of Saber Astronautics, told Food & Wine magazine that the goal was to replicate the feel of a regular beer bottle, and ultimately modified technology used in fuel tanks.
“It’s got to be sitting in your hand like a bottle, not a squeezy bag,” Held said. “And you’re not going to drink beer out of a straw. We’re not going to do that to our astronauts.”
At the time of writing, 49 backers had contributed a total of US$8,690 to the Indiegogo campaign. Perks range from a US$5-digital high five to a US$40,000-voucher for a zero gravity flight experience with Held and Mitchell, and Space Beer.
For US$90, you can get your very own empty Vostok Space Beer Bottle, which can be used to drink any liquid in space.
Featured image: Vostok Space Beer