Growing Barley In Space Is Now Tasted In "Space Beer"
While space travel is gaining speed, the idea of growing food is becoming necessary. The team of scientists on the International Space Station is eager to find if there are any genetic issues from growing substances, such as barley (a main ingredient of beer), out in space. The idea is simply that long-term missions are going to require a stock pile of food.
Earlier this year, May 2009, it was announced that Japanese and Russian scientists were trying just that type of experiment. The experiment was to grow the barley in space for five months and then transfer/ship it back to Earth for study and to brew beer.
The team of Japanese and Russian scientists studied the barley grown in space. They determined that there were no differences between what is grown here or there. The hope of the May 2009 mission was to make “Space Beer” by November; there has been a success.
The announcement was just released December 2009 that “a Japanese brewery…has produced the world’s first space beer using barley grown in space.” SUCCESS! The only way to taste this out of the world beer is to be “one of thirty people chosen in a lottery to sample a few millilitres of the beer in January; the rest will be used for research.”
