Back when President Reagan was working on his Star Wars strategic defense initiative, there was another struggle going on. Two historic adversaries, each a giant with loyal followers set their aims at a new battlefield of Space. Pepsi and Coca-cola each postured to be the beverage of choice for astronauts.
Astronauts had a limited selection of food choices and drink. During their trips to space, Astronauts leave behind many comforts of home. There are no home-cooked meals in space. Even carbonated beverages are all left behind on Earth. So what better of a marketing event if soda could be the drink of choice for Astronauts.
Coke gets a good idea.
In 1984, researchers for Coca Cola had an idea about dispensing carbonated beverages in space to give astronauts more choices to drink and also to create a stellar advertising opportunity. The company developed a can that would work in weightlessness to keep the cola fizzy without spewing out of the can. NASA agreed to let the astronauts try the Coke device on a Shuttle flight.
Pepsi found out.
When Pepsi learned of this project, it also wanted to take part and developed its own container.
The STS 51-F mission in 1985 few both Coke and Pepsi products so crew members could evaluate the dispensers and do a taste test in orbit. NASA added neither company’s product to the Space Shuttle food pantry based on mixed feedback.
Next time someone asks you… Has anyone ever opened a beer (or soda) bottle (or can) in space (or in a vacuum)? What happens? you can answer them.
Soda though in space is a bit of issue. Although the dispensing of the soda was solved by the can design, soda doesn’t react the same way in gravity. In the micro-gravity of space, gas bubbles do not escape through the surface of the liquid and out the top of the can. The gas tends to stay dissolved in the liquid. As a result, astronauts drinking carbonated beverages will consume significantly more gas by drinking a soda in space as compared to someone on Earth.
More gas results in more burps to release that gas. Burping in space can be unpleasant. On the ground, gases and liquids naturally separate in the digestive system because the lighter gases rise above the heavier denser liquids. In space, that separation does not happen. Burping in space usually means some liquid is expelled with the gas. “wet burp”.
Credit: airandspace.si.edu NASA donated this extra Pepsi Can designed for Space Shuttle Missions in the 1980s – the concept was tested on STS-51F
Credit: airandspace.si.edu NASA donated this extra Pepsi Can designed for Space Shuttle Missions in the 1980s – the concept was tested on STS-51F
The bubbles of carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages aren’t buoyant in a weightless environment, so they remain randomly distributed throughout the fluid, even after swallowing. This means that carbonated beverages including soft drinks and beer may become a foamy mess during space travel.
Vickie Kloeris, Subsystem manager for Shuttle and ISS food systems at Johnson Space Center and program manager for NASA FTCSC, says “carbonated drinks currently don’t make the trip because the carbonation and the soda will not separate in microgravity. Some experiments have been done with special microgravity dispensers for soda, but it has not been perfected yet.”
Even if a microgravity dispenser is perfected, there is no guarantee that carbonated beverages will be used in space. In space, with the absence of gravity, the carbon dioxide bubbles in carbonated beverages go through an astronaut’s digestive system, rather than being belched out as on Earth, and may cause adverse side effects.
