Six tins have landed at the International Space Station
This week marks the 45th anniversary of Apollo 15's mission into lunar orbit. Last week SpaceX launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, bound for the International Space Station, and it had some precious cargo on board. In addition to essential supplies, docking adaptors, and some experiments, the vessel also carried along six tins of Tsar Nicoulai Caviar.
The 30-gram containers of American white sturgeon caviar en route to the space station’s astronauts came from the company’s aquafarm in Wilton, Calif. After SpaceX docked, the caviar was transported onto the space station.
Capture confirmed! pic.twitter.com/YWK7LWxHMd
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2016
This isn't the first time caviar has gone into space, however. In 2014 a Russian spacecraft delivered several astronauts, an espresso machine, fresh fruit, and 15 small tins of caviar to the ISS.
Based on that mission, science writers at NASA have commented to Eater that caviar in space behaves more like a liquid than a solid, "separating into chunks with some individual eggs coming off them over time," like droplets of liquid. It's likely that astronauts put the caviar in a bag and "either squeeze into their mouth or suck with straw." They may also wrap it with a tortilla, a popular way of eating food at zero gravity.
Astronaut diets are notoriously strict, but attempts to expand the scope of what astronauts can actually eat while on the International Space Station have gained traction. Earlier this year, British chef and TV personality Heston Blumenthal was commissioned to design a full meal to send to the ISS, which included a canned bacon sandwich. The quality of the space coffee situation has made leaps and bounds over the last year.
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