On May 27th, 2011 Natural Light (from the Anheuser-Busch stable) officially became “The First Beer In Space”.
[Information below via YouTube]
Two of Natty Lights Facebook fans, Danny and Rich, came to us with an epic idea to make Natty the first beer in space.
The spacecraft was launched via weather balloon. The ascent took about 2hrs rising to an altitude of 90,000ft+. The Aluminum Fullcan spacecraft landed 60 miles from the launch site and took Danny and Rich 2hrs to locate by GPS (due to the rural area of the landing that offered poor reception). The event was a complete success and Natty Light officially became The First Beer In Space (edge of space)…what we like to call the Nattmosphere!
The spacecraft was composed of a styrofoam cooler carrying the first beer (full beer) in space on board, a GPS tracking device, an HD video camera pointed at another (empty) can on the outside of the ship (It’s the can you see in frame).
back of the ferry 
I bet Natural Light tastes like goat’s piss. Shame. Wasted effort on Danny and Rich’s part.
I beg to differ – Aussies won this most important space race…one small step…burp.
I’m not sure that this was the first beer in space. The boys at Four Pines in Manly got their Vostok Lager consumed back in Feb at Zero gravity…extract below from the 4 Pines website…
4 Pines Brewing Company + Saber Astronautics = Vostok.
When space engineers who love beer, and beer engineers who love space started chatting over a brew or two under the stars, a wild idea sparked in both of their craniums. Not long after, and while the spark continued to burn brightly, Vostok was formed with the ambition of creating the world’s first beer designed for consumption in space!!
Humanity loves beer. We always have and always will. The Space tourism market is emerging and will take off in less than 2-years, with thousands of screaming, happy space fans booked on suborbital flights. Guaranteed some of them will want the option to enjoy a brew while looking at our big Blue Globe. Why deny them the chance?Footage from 26 Feb 2011. This was the first beer in aviation history to be legally served on a commercial 0-g flight. The tester drank six samples of 150ml each, while recording skin temperature, heart rate, and alcohol absorption. And best result is… NO wet burps :)A Beer for Space and Earth!
Vostok is a partnership between Saber Astronautics (space guys) and the 4-Pines Brewing Company (beer guys) in Manly Australia!
Cyril
As always, a post from the cutting edge. What’s the date of this voyage?
Firstly, the boys at 4 Pines in Manly reckon they were first. I mean it is hardly surprising that the insular peninsula would lead a space race involving beer. The link below tells the history.
http://vostokspacebeer.com/
Secondly, Natural Light barely constitutes a beer. The ratings from Beer Advocate don’t lie.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/1524
Hi all.
Jaron from 4 Pines here.
Patrick asked me to chime in and give a bit of background on the beer in space picture.
First off, I’ll step back a bit to ALCOHOL and space.
NASA never allowed it (although Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon), but
Cosmonauts were cool to have the odd tipple of vodka to remind them a bit of home.
Currently on the ISS alcohol isn’t allowed.
Space exploration is changing everyday as we speak.
It’s moving out of the hands of the government sector (for a few elite professionals only) and becoming the domain of (albeit very wealth) tourists.
Whose number will increase exponentially from now.
What do we know about people – through history, no matter where we explore BEER is the #1 priority after the basic essentials … space will be no different.
So we have teamed up with Saber Astronautics Australia to create “Vostok”, the worlds first beer for space.
What’s the history of beer and space coming together?
– about a thimble full of beer was brewed in space
– Sapporo brewed about 100 cans of beer (on earth) with barley brewed on the ISS
– a can of Coors or Bud or something star spangled and monstrous was put up into space
Sure, all of these are combining beer and space like putting ice cream with your steak. It’s possible and novel, but the challenges of this combination haven’t been considered, like the challenges of beer and space until the Vostok 4 Pines Stout was created.
So what are these challenges?
1. Your tongue swells and you loses sensitivity, so a beer with an average bitterness and gravity, for example like the 4 Pines Kolsch could (we aren’t sure yet as we haven’t tested it) could taste like water.
2. With gravity not working on you the same way, the gas and liquid in your stomach don’t separate. Hence burps become a wet burp – a combo of gas and liquid. Not optimal in a space hotel bar. (A space hotel is slated for completion by 2016 by the way)
So the Vostok project is the WORLDS FIRST
– Beer designed for space
– Space Beer consumed in space conditions (our 0-g human experiment in Florida Feb 2011)
– study on ANY ALCOHOL and its effects as a liquid and on humans in 0-g
As for the Natty Light pic.
Very cool experiment.
Did it satisfy and of these firsts? Not that I can see
Did it get to space? Technically no. You don’t get your astronaut wings until 80km. These guys got to about 27km.
But not taking anything away from them, it was a very cool experiment and idea I thought. It had me captivated from start to finish.
May the Beer fuelled space race continue!
All the best!!!!