French Wines Return from Year in Space - VOA Learning English

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft landed off the coast of Florida Wednesday night carrying research materials, equipment and 12 bottles of French wine.

These bottles of wine and some grapevines had spent about a year in the International Space Station, orbiting the world in the name of science.

That is when Space Cargo Unlimited plans to open a bottle or two for an out-of-this-world wine tasting in Bordeaux, France.

Researchers want to see how space changed the wine’s sedimentation and bubbles.

Gaume told the Associated Press that his company’s goal is to try to understand “how we’re going to have an agriculture tomorrow that is both organic and healthy and able to feed humanity.” Gaume added, “we think space has the key.”.

Through a series of space experiments, Space Cargo Unlimited hopes to take what is learned to make plants stronger on Earth.

The wine bottles were kept in steel containers for safety when they went to the space station on a Northrop Grumman ship in November 2019.

At this time, SpaceX’s Dragon is the only spacecraft capable of returning space station experiments and other items to Earth.