Japan Delivers Whiskey to the International Space Station...for Science

The astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) may be receiving something a bit unusual in their latest shipment of cargo. Drinks giant Suntory sent Japanese whiskey into space-for science.

The whiskey isn't for drinking. Instead, Suntory sent the booze to space so that it could test how time in a zero-gravity environment might affect its flavor. It's possible that storing it in an environment with only slight temperature changes and limited liquid movement could lead to a mellower flavor.

A total of six samples of the distilled spirits have been sent to the ISS. There, the batch will be observed for a year, and a second set will be left for two years.

This wasn't the only thing sent to the ISS, though. The supply ship contained nearly 10,000 pounds of cargo.

The experiment with the whiskey, though, could be big in terms of igniting interest about science in space.

"While a lot of the experiments are very important, looking at things like how the human body copes with microgravity in space, exposure to radiation and drugs in the very controlled environment of the space station so we have the research ready for a trip to Mars, a lot of them are to ignite people's interest in science," said Andrew Ratcliffe, principal systems engineer on the future mission programme at Airbus Defence & Space, in an interview with The Telegraph.

For now, the whiskey will remain in space, aging until it's finally tested for taste back on Earth.

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