Somehow, for some reason, cocktails and space seemed to be linked. It was only natural, then, for someone to design a cocktail glass for space. This is trickier than it sounds, and Make Magazine’s post goes into some detail of the re-invention of the cocktail glass.
Think about the main ingredient required for enjoying a cocktail here on Earth: gravity. It’s very easy for us to: 1) fill the glass (need gravity for that), 2) tilt glass towards mouth, and 3) liquid pours from glass into mouth (again, gravity).
Now, think of what will happen when you try to pour in a micro-gravity environment. That’s right–nothing. The liquid will remain in a bottle or pitcher and not pour into the glass. But let’s assume you’ve managed to somehow get the liquid from bottle to glass. Now try to get it from glass into you. And again, in micro-gravity, the liquid will remain in the glass, and you are just a frustrated wanna-be lush.
And so, there are a few people determined to make sure the Nick and Nora wanna-bes in space will not be without their cocktail. Ergo, the dawning of new micro-gravity drinkware. Read Make’s post for more detail. But if you want to see how some engineers have designed a drinking “cup” for micro-gravity environments, watch the video below (and thanks to Michael Spencer for bringing this to my attention).
Sure, it’s for coffee. And yes, it looks silly. But coffee is important, too. You can go to these directions here, if you want to make “space coffee.”
So that’s kind of interesting, but where’s the DIY? Right here, of course. Make also has instructions for how to build a model rocket launching system, called Launchit. It looks pretty nice and has big red switches and buttons. Great for budding missileers.
The Mad Spaceball 