Japan Sends Liquor Into Space! Here's Why

A Japanese spacecraft Kounotori arrived on August 24, 2015 carrying supplies for the International Space Station. Among the various items delivered was a small shipment of liquor.

Discovery reported that Suntory Whiskey, a Japan-based company, sent the hotel minibar contents to the space outpost as part of an experiment to determine how various kinds of alcohol respond in a microgravity environment. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will not be allowed to consume the alcoholic beverages.

Suntory is the owner of brands like Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Hornitos and Midori, among others. The company did not indicate the brands that were included in the space study. Two groups of samples will be stored on the ISS for 13 months and over 2 years. There will also be a control group kept on Earth. After the periods for storing are completed, the samples will be returned to Earth to check for chemical differences. All groups will be the same, except for the variable of gravity, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Some of the alcohol will stay in the ISS’s Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo). There will be six samples on Earth.

“With the exception of some items like beer, alcoholic beverages are widely known to develop a mellow flavor when aged for a long time. Although researchers have taken a variety of scientific approaches to elucidating the underlying mechanism, we still do not have a full picture of how this occurs,” Suntory Whiskey previously stated on July 30, 2015.

The Kounotori of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency was launched on August 19, 2015 from Japan, with over 8,000 pounds of supplies and experiments for the Expedition 44/45 crew. There were other experiments being conducted on the space station, particularly involving microgravity. There were experiments that showed how microgravity can extend the period that leaves stay green on certain plants. Microgravity tests on drugs used to treat diabetes have also shown the potential to battle certain cancers, Discovery wrote. The microgravity environment cannot be replicated on Earth, which is why it is more feasible to send items to study in outer space. Some of the studies have shown very promising results, which could alleviate various climate and health conditions all over the world.

The research team will continue to exchange information as to how the liquors have aged as the months pass. More news and updates about the space liquor are expected in the next few months.