Hello, and welcome to Gardeners off World! On 15 February, the NG-13 cargo ship blasted off from NASA Wallops on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). It arrived on 18 February, where NASA astronaut Drew Morgan caught it with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
One of the things it carried into space was the first British industrial contribution to the ISS; the Columbus Ka-band (COLKa) Terminal is a radio antenna designed to enable astronauts to connect with scientists and family on Earth at home broadband speeds. The UK was an original signatory to the 1998 treaty that brought the ISS into being, but never got involved in building the station. It wasn’t until 2012 that Britain really got interested in the ISS, and coughed up some money for ESA – allowing Tim Peake to become an astronaut and providing this commercial opportunity.
More interestingly, perhaps, the cargo vessel also included the first fresh cheese sent for American astronauts.
“For the first time, NASA’s Food Lab at the Johnson Space Center was able to pack some hard cheeses in a cooler-like “cold bag” for the astronauts. The station crew has been requesting Parmesan and other hard cheeses since September as an alternative to the butter-like spread currently available. But finding a fresh hard cheese just before a launch, and then keeping it fresh for the days-long trip to the station was a challenge.”
Wisconsin sharp cheddar, Parmesan and Fontina launched into space; the crew had requested Manchego, but it proved impossible to find at short notice.
“The cheese that we do send normally in the standard menu is a shelf-stable cheddar cheese spread. And that is worlds of away from a wedge of Parmesan cheese, as you can imagine. Sending this is a reminder of
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