Beer made from space yeast
A beer has been created from yeast that was sent into space.
Ground Control is a 10% imperial stout made from yeast that was transported in a rocket 77.3 miles above the surface of the Earth last October. The vials of yeast were weightless for about four minutes.
Ninkasi Brewing Company, from Oregon, encountered some unexpected difficulties when preparing to launch the rocket.
This was their second attempt to send yeast into space. "Mission One", as the company called it, failed because two tracking devices fell off the rocket and it took them almost a month to find it. By then almost all of the yeast cells were dead.
The second launch was almost a failure because they needed dry ice to protect the yeast and found out the night before that the nearest Walmart had sold out.
However, a 180 mile drive across the Mexican border to the next nearest Walmart provided them with the necessary ice.
This is not the first time space travel and alcohol have mixed. Two weeks ago a bar at The Savoy hotel became the first to send its menu into space.
The beer is only available in the US and Canada.