Skip to main content

The International Space Station is getting its first-ever espresso machine

The International Space Station is getting its first-ever espresso machine

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

The Italian Space Agency is about to make life in the International Space Station a lot more comfortable: this November, it'll send up the first espresso machine to the station, one that's designed specifically for operating in space. This won't be bad coffee either: the machine was made by Italian espresso maker Lavazza, in conjunction with aerospace engineering company Argotec. "Together, we will for the first time offer coffee inside the International Space Station," Giuseppe Lavazza, a company VP, says in a video describing the new machine. "A real coffee. That which one drinks in a cafe: good, hot, and steaming."

Lavazza is calling the machine ISSpresso. It operates using capsules, which Lavazza says helps to brew the drink in the space station's weightless environment, where liquids behave quite differently. The machine is also able to make other hot drinks, such as tea. A prototype is currently being tested by Argotec, in preparation of having it sent up later this year alongside astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who will become the first Italian woman in space. "How cool is that?" Cristoforetti writes on Twitter. "During [ISS Expedition 42] I'll get to operate the first space espresso machine!" This won't be the first presence of coffee on the ISS, but it'll sure beat out the instant stuff that they've brought up in the past.