Astronaut Scott Kelly (center) and Mikhail Kornienko (upper) float end March 2015 ISS. Inset: the coffee machine for astronauts © AP, Lavazza
The supply rocket leaves today to the International Space Station has one. special piece of cargo on board: an espresso machine that is designed to put a decent cup of coffee in the room.
The Italian coffee company Lavazza developed ISSpresso together with engineering company Argotec and the Italian Space Agency ASI. The device uses coffee capsules, like many coffee machines on earth. The astronauts connect two pockets on the device: one with water and one where hot coffee catching up. According to Lavazza is the only difference with an earthy espresso that the astronauts have to drink it with a straw. The US space agency NASA has approved the ISSpresso.
Thruster
Besides ISSpresso the rocket from the private space company SpaceX also four thousand pounds of other supplies.
SpaceX is also trying to make the thruster that the rocket during flight sheds land on a platform in the sea. If this succeeds, the thruster can be reused, which is the trips to the ISS would make a lot cheaper. The previous two attempts to make the thruster failed countries.
Guinea Pigs
end of March, three ‘fresh’ astronauts to the space station. Two of them will be the first stay a year in the ISS. Guinea Pigs are the American Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko. Kelly has an identical twin brother, Mark, who is also an astronaut. They have the same genes, the same build and the same background. By comparing them, scientists can easily see exactly how a body changes during a long time in space. Because of the minimal gravitational force move muscles, bones and eyes backward.
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