I’ll say right away: nothing that’s “under the weather.” Only juices. The law is strictly enforced on board the International Space Station: no grams of alcohol.
When American space tourist Charles Simonyi arrived at the ISS on the eve of Cosmonautics Day in 2007 with Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, he treated his colleagues to his favorite dishes of French cuisine. However, what is French cuisine without wine? And then it also came on board, but exclusively in the form of a wine sauce for fried quail.
It was always strict with alcohol in orbit. For example, the following story is known. In 1985, French astronaut Patrick Baudry took with him on a seven-day flight aboard the Discovery shuttle a selection of French wines bottled in small bottles. But the shuttle commander, Daniel Brandenstein, forbade him to open even one. So the wine returned unopened to Earth. Then Baudry donated the collection that had been in space to the Wine Museum in Bordeaux.
The same champagne, like any sparkling wines, is generally a prohibited product for orbit. It’s clear why: when opened, the “balls” will scatter in all directions. Moreover, as the astronauts say, due to the lack of attraction, such drinks separate into the carbonated part and the liquid itself, which completely changes their taste.
But the issue of cognac was once upon a time discussed very seriously.
“At one time, the question of whether to supply cognac into space was even considered at a meeting of the board of the Ministry of Health,” cosmonaut Georgy Grechko shared with RG (he and Yuri Romanenko became the first Soviet cosmonauts to meet the onset of the new year, 1978, in orbit. Author.) – And the founder of space medicine, academician Oleg Gazenko, spoke quite clearly: “There, in orbit, a person has a very difficult emotional state. If the guys drink 5-7 grams of cognac before going to bed to relieve tension, then I’m all for it. But before any experiment, before docking? This has never happened before! On board, for example, we had a tube with 125 grams of cognac, on which was written “coffee.” I don’t know who put it there. But we were informed that it existed on the occasion of some holiday. I think it was New Year’s. Then the guys came to us, there were two crews on board – four people. Even if we drank this unfortunate tube in one gulp, then count how much it would be for each of us. But even without that, the “reserve” stretched for days and months.”
The famous “space aged” wine: experts valued one bottle at $1 million. Photo: Space-cu.com
According to Georgy Grechko, at the space station they had a pepper plaster in the first aid kit. Someone jokingly stuck a pepper vodka label on it. So the Americans shied away from him like the devil from incense. However, in his book, Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the Moon, said that before landing on its surface with Neil Armstrong in 1969, he drank a little wine. True, according to him, it was a rite of communion. As an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Texas, Aldrin received permission to take bread and wine into space. He wrote that the wine “slowly and gracefully rose up the side of the cup” thanks to the gravitational pull of the Moon, which was one-sixth the force of the Earth.
Many people know how cosmonaut Alexei Leonov played a prank on the Americans with vodka during the Soyuz-Apollo flight. Here’s what he said in an interview with RG:
“This is purely my idea. Before the flight, I took out the labels: “Stolichnaya”, “Russkaya”, “Starka” and “Moskovskaya”. I put them in the logbook, and I had the tape. And after we went into orbit, I I pasted vodka labels on tubes of borscht. And I also wrote a slogan from Shakespeare: “Oh, brave new world that has such people.” And I made friendly caricatures of each of them.
When we sat down at the table after docking, Kubasov and I took out tubes of “vodka.” By tradition, here’s to the meeting! The Americans refuse – it’s impossible, it’s a violation. And they point at the television cameras with their eyes. I say: “I’ll turn it off now so no one can see.” And turned it off. And from the Earth they shout: “Turn on!” In general, everyone opened the tubes, and there… borscht! There’s a close-up shot of Deke Slayton’s face as he says, “Listen, why did you cheat? It would be better if there was vodka!” But no one believes that we didn’t drink vodka. Nobody”.
A wax seal on an auctioned vintage wine that traveled to the ISS. Photo: Christie’s
To the question about “5-7 grams of cognac,” Alexey Arkhipovich answered this way:
“When Lebedev and Berezovoy were flying, they both turned 40 years old during the flight. On a cargo ship, I decided to secretly send them cognac: I cut out the middle of a loaf of bread and hid a flask there. So then Lebedev wrote “the theory of using cognac in space”: you need to take bottle in your mouth, make a sharp shake – it will be exactly 30 grams. And it was published in a scientific journal!
The board of the ministry is underway. Minister Afanasyev is blacker than a cloud. Shows the magazine: “Who did this?” I stood up and said: “Sergei Alexandrovich, I did this. They have been flying for so long, they are 40 years old, a bottle of cognac will last for six months.” And from the audience they shout: “Not enough! Not enough!” The general, Yuri Pavlovich Semenov, stands up and says: “Alexey discussed this with me. I agreed, and we sent this bottle of cognac.” Helped me out.”
It must be said that, according to the same astronauts, a categorical ban on alcohol in space is not just absolutely justified. This is primarily a safety issue associated with the air regeneration system. Any alcohol-containing substances, including alcohol and alcohol-based deodorants, are prohibited on the ISS due to the fact that they can damage the air purification system. Anything that contains alcohol is instantly detected by gas analyzers. And the systems that provide this very cleaning immediately turn off: if alcohol vapor gets in, they simply stop working.
By the way, as the cosmonauts say, at one time there were discussions about providing them, like submariners, with wine to combat the effects of radiation exposure. But this idea was abandoned so that alcohol would not lead to damage. And if without technical details: a large number of “degrees” can even lead to a fire.
There was borscht in the tubes. DonaldSlayton (right): “Listen, why did you cheat? It would be better if there was vodka!” Photo: NASA
Meanwhile, alcohol twice officially became the subject of a real experiment in space. Thus, in 2015, the Japanese cargo ship HTV-5 Kounotori brought elite whiskey to the ISS. Several bottles were there for more than a year and then returned to Earth: winemakers wanted to compare how weightlessness affects the “ripening” of alcohol.
And in 2021, at one of the largest foreign auctions, the famous vintage wine was exhibited, which spent 440 days in orbit and then returned along with the SpaceX Dragon ship. All 12 bottles survived the flight intact. The taste qualities of the drinks were studied in the laboratory, as well as by professionals – sommeliers. Conclusion: space added sweetness, harmony and resilience.
Experts valued one bottle of “space aged” wine at $1 million.
Source: rg.ru
