Beer in SPAAAACE: Photographic PROOF

We're delighted to report that rocket boffin Chris Smith has finally delivered photographic evidence of beer in space, a couple of months after he first dispatched a pint of London Pride to the stratosphere. A frozen pint of London Pride in the stratosphere Chris, of European Astrotech, launched his first flight in July …

[James 51]

Wouldn't the alcohol have boiled off with the low air pressure on the way up?

[2460 Something]

The glass was sealed (I assume cling film).

[James 51]

Good point. I didn't think it would be air tight but it's possible.

[Anonymous Coward]

@2460 Something

"The glass was sealed (I assume cling film)."

Don't take a job as an aircraft designer, please. Or in anything involving pressure vessels, pipelines and such like. You might be OK with balloons, though.

[The First Dave]

Not significantly faster than the water would.

[Shrimpling]

Thats either a giant Lego man or its not a pint.

[Pypes]

Space exploration has a long and illustrious history of mucking up units, maybe its a 16oz american pint.

[brooxta]

The plan was for "a sealable 530ml container purchased for £3.50 from Tesco" according to previous coverage of this mission. But I agree, either the Lego hero is actually larger than life in real life (there's something to mull on over a (real life) pint) or else Tesco ought to be had under advertising standards/mislabelling.

[sisk]

I'll just point out that we can only see how wide and high the container is. It could well be very deep, therefore giving it more capacity than is readily apparent.

[Charles 9]

Except last I checked, your average plastic cup is round. I've never seen one that was ellipsoid, probably because such cups are prone to collapsing on the narrow dimension. So, assuming the cup is round, either the cup is NOT pint-sized (such a cup in the standard shape would have to be at least four inches tall, and a Lego figure is only about two inches) or that's not a Lego figure on the right. Could be a Duplo figure, which are taller to account for the larger blocks.

[sisk]

Quoting Brooska above, the plan was for "a sealable 530ml container purchased for £3.50 from Tesco". That sounds more like a Tupperwareish storage container than a cup with a lid to me.

[EddieD]

Fullers isn't too bad - not a patch on the local brews, e.g. Harviestoun or Caledonian* - but it's an acceptable drop.

Not after it's been freeze dried in a vacuum though

*Or Atlas**

**Or Orkney***

***Or Williams Bros (Fraoch)

It's Friday, and soon they will be mine...

[Santa from Exeter]

Beer!

*** Quite like the Grozet myself but I was a little disconcerted when the Roisin turned my pee pink!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Beer!

> when the Roisin turned my pee pink!

Ah, these Irish lasses...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Harviestoun or Caledonian"

My Christmas homebrew has just been double-dropped, an IPA. My beer is no good for space exploration though. The highest it will travel (I've measured) is 74.3cms, the distance between the table and my mouth.

[Frogmelon]

Proof then that clingfilm (and/or filler foam) is an absolute necessity in future space exploration for fixing hull breaches from micrometeorites, clumsy Jedi Knights etc.

And if it looks like your space craft is doomed to vaccuum, head off to the galley immediately and totally wrap yourself up in clingfilm.

Just be careful if you've been eating beans or onions.

[Fred Flintstone]

Just be careful if you've been eating beans or onions

Are you referring to this incident?

:)

[Sporkinum]

I thought you were talking about this. "A 500-page-plus transcript of the declassified mission log records tons of routine conversations among the mission's three astronauts: commander Tom Stafford, lunar module pilot Gene Cernan and command module pilot John Young. But six days into the eight-day mission, around page 414, an emergency pops up:

"Give me a napkin, quick," Stafford says. "There's a turd floating through the air."

"I didn't do it," Young says. "It ain't one of mine."

"I don't think it's one of mine," Cernan says.

"Mine was a little more sticky than that," Stafford replies. "Throw that away."

The astronauts discuss the finer points of waste disposal in space, and then move on to other business. But minutes later, it's "Houston, we have a problem" all over again.

"Here's another goddam turd," Cernan says. "What's the matter with you guys?""

[Salamander]

An opportunity

IPA was created to ensure that a drinkable pint was possible after 6 months at sea. Now we need a pint that can survive space travel and still be drinkable.

Now theres a challenge to an brewers or brewsters out there!

[Lyndon Hills 1]

Re: An opportunity

Given the motto of the LOHAN project, this seems a legitimate line of research.

[Scott Broukell]

Re: An opportunity

"survive space travel and still be drinkable"

In which case IPA might stand for Inter Planetary Alcohol

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: An opportunity

By which you mean: Inter Planetary Ale

[dotdavid]

Re: An opportunity

Good idea. We could even recycle the PARIS name.

Pint of Ale Released Into Space

[Surreal]

Re: An opportunity

I'd think an Eisbock would be a good candidate for space beer. YMMV.

[Martin Budden]

Re: An opportunity

It would need to be high-alcohol, low-carbonation, and with lots of residual unfermentable sugars. Barley wine.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Let's raise a glass to his raising of a glass to the stratosphere

Not that an excuse is needed on Friday

[Peter Simpson 1]

Should have used Budweiser

Nothing of value would have been lost.

// no beer icon because not beer

[Chris 244]

Re: Should have used Budweiser

I could be wrong but "Budweiser" in Europe should be real beer from Czech (Budweiser Budvar), not so much in North America. The "beer" here under that name ("Bud" over there) is brewed from barley and rice. Rice.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Should have used Budweiser

If It hadn`t been for the intervention of a certain fun-loving chap with a Charlie Chaplin moustache, there might only have been real beer with a Bud label. The US Bud lost in court to the original Czech brewery just before the fun tour of Europe by the above.

A huge wodge of wonga to the Czechs after their emergence from the CCCP has allowed US Bud to continue trading in Europe,

Under the beer purity rules the only place you found non Czech Bud in Germany was on US airbases, technically not part of Germany. Public sale was a food safety offence.

Worse still, some of the various and varying declared preservatives in US sourced "Bud" although FDA allowed ( maybe no longer, one would hope) are banned in the Uk and Europe and have been for decades.

Export US Bud does not contain these ( natch) But it remains a forfeit in rugby drinking games as a mark of shame for someone cheating since it is undrinkable muck compared to almost anything else.

Their use of adjuncts is also common in high gravity brewed to 12+% then diluted piss lagers common now in Britain.

The only alcohol you should make from rice is Sake, that is not dishonest.

I do agree that US Bud should be sent but chemical weapons treaties might be breached, and at a sufficient height it may go from frozen to vapour: ie. sublime, and that is not a term that can, or should ever be associated with the heathen`s piss.

[Joe User]

Re: Should have used Budweiser

American Budweiser is labeled "beer", but it is more akin to the liquid output from a horse.

[KA1AXY]

Re: Should have used Budweiser

This appears to be the opinion of any American who has tasted real beer.

[Dr Who]

Breaking news - Ukraine crisis over as Putin killed by high velocity frozen pint of British beer. President Obama, currently in Cardiff for the NATO summit, said "I wanna thank you guys. We got carriers and aircraft coming out of our asses, but it takes Brit genius to truly kick ass. Just like WWII." David Cameron couldn't comment. He was chillaxing having just downed his eighth pint of Brains SA (god no).

[080]

Skull Attack

If all politicians were forced to drink 8 pints of SA each day that would keep them under control, not sure about their bowels though.

[People's Poet]

IPA - Indian Pale Ale - It was brewed for the troops out in Colonial India to stop it turning cloudy in the heat & humidity. It had nothing to do with the Royal Navy you bloody Philistine, they were given a ration of rum.

[Phil O'Sophical]

IPA was created to survive months at sea being shipped to India, not for drinking on the way.

[Destroy All Monsters]

De-colonization proceeded regardless!

[Tom 7]

Giant pair of trousers for London Pride?

NTrousers

[Beau]

Best Beer?

Well, until recently I always thought English beer to be the best in the world, "Horndeen Special Brew" was always one of my favorites. I have tried more than a few others in several different countries over the last 30 years.

Now though, having arrived, and settled in Belgium by a rather roundabout route, I can now assure you all, that for pure choice, flavor, alcohol content, and sheer enjoyment, Belgium beers are the best in the world.

One might also note, the delightful glass that it is always, carefully served in, whatever the establishment that you may be in?

[C. P. Cosgrove]

Aahh - Belgian beer !

I have never regretted the time spent at an illegally early age developing a liking for beer - with good English bitter ( and there is a lot of good English bitter) - well to the fore, but I have to agree with Beau, they make superb beer in Belgium.

I must point out - if only on grounds of health and safety - that the Belgians do not always choose the most appropriate times to serve their beers. On sitting down in a restaurant in Brugges once, my wife and I were asked if we would like a beer while we pondered the menu. Naturally the response was 'Yes please'.

Casteel Triple was the house choice - 11% vol ! A beautiful beer, beautifully finished, but I could hardly see the menu after that, never mind ponder it. But definitely not frozen.

Chris Cosgrove

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: Aahh - Belgian beer !

They probably thought you would be going back to the office for the afternoon.

[Tony 16]

"Anonymous" only because I will not be railroaded into 'creating new accounts" ...I could hardly be bothered reading it it was not amusing...If this is celebrating more space junk it simply underlines for the thousandth time what kind of science-gifted litter-bug- bug-wits run the "fill it with capitalist junk" space programme at NASA and elsewhere..What loathsome, ignorant utterly stupid, if not sociopathic, people are they. The Bilderberger-must-be-Israel-approved -capitalist-profiteers-selected Western governments that permit them to do it...but then, what are hysterically called with straight faces "our leaders' are willing puppets for the Zionist Capital Banker families 'entertainment, smoke and mirrors, Indian rope trick department so turning vacuum into crap is very personal for their alchemy- besotted minds and earns more money per second than Scrooge McDuck ever dreamed about.. Siberia is the right place for people who initiate or think such space junk clutter in the "Steptoe' mentality...the rest of their life at a Gulag might get them thinking more sensibly.Maybe we can focus on fixing this world's calamities but then....who wants peace and well fed people?..there's no profit there by comparison with Riot mayhem Abominations War and what is now being sought...Armageddon

[H.Winter]

re: Anonymous

Icon says it all.