Fancy space tipple? Not on NASA’s watch

Booze is strictly forbidden on the ISS for a whole number of reasons. An inebriated astronaut in control of a billion-dollar space station hurtling through space isn’t a very good idea, but alcohol can also damage the ISS in other ways. Alcohol-containing products such as mouthwash and hand sanitiser are also banned, as the alcoholic compounds they contain affect the station’s water-recovery system. Ethanol is a volatile compound and could cause damage to valuable equipment on the ISS.

Despite the dangers of alcohol in space, it wasn’t always taboo. At the start of the Space Race, alcoholic drinks were included in cosmonaut rations. Small amounts of cognac were said to be recommended by Russian doctors to help the immune system. The ban only led to more inventive ways to sneak it aboard.

Chris Carberry details the various smuggling methods, as described by former cosmonauts and astronauts, in his book

Alcohol in Space: Past, Present and Future. Alcohol was smuggled in hollowed-out books, ‘mislabelled’ juice cartons and even in pouches in spacesuits.

Today alcohol is deliberately sent to the ISS for science. A recent study sent bottles of red wine to the ISS, where they were stored for over a year. Upon their return to Earth they were compared with bottles that had not been sent to space. Scientists compared them, suggesting that wine in space may age faster. More alcohol-based experiments are planned to be carried out, including investigating the effect of microgravity on grapevine growth, as well as the effects on bacteria, yeast and fermentation processes.