Just the essentials: Russia sends espresso machine and caviar to International Space Station

The Russian spacecraft has taken an espresso machine and 450 grams of Caviar for the team’s New Year feast.

17:30 24 November 2014

The International Space Station (ISS) has received three new visitors bringing with them coffee, caviar, and worms.

Terry Virts of Nasa, the Russian Space Agency’s Anton Shkaplerov and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti set off from Kazakhstan on Sunday afternoon headed to ISS with supplies including a coffee machine and some caviar.

Cristoforetti is Italy’s first female astronaut. On Sunday night, they joined one NASA astronaut and two others from the Russian Space Agency, who arrived there in September and they are due to return in May.

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According to Russian state news agency Tass, the trio brought 15 30-gram cans of sturgeon caviar, apples, oranges, lemons, and black tea. It was also confirmed that the caviar will be part of the team’s feast to celebrate New Year.

Aside from food, they also brought specially designed coffee machine, created by coffee makers Lavazza and engineering firm Argotec, which can work in space.

Meawhile, the worms will be used to study epigenetics, which are changes that can be inherited but don’t alter the DNA. They will grow four generations of worms to see whether the effects of having less gravity is passed down through the family.