Introducing the ISSpresso with a caffeine hit that’s out of this world

The next space station grocery run will carry caffeine to a whole new level – an authentic espresso machine from Italy.

This undated product image provided by Lavazza, shows a prototype of Lavazza and Argotec’s “ISSpresso” machine. Image by (AP Photo/Lavazza)

The SpaceX supply ship will launch its unmanned rocket with the espresso maker and 4,000lbs of food, science research and other equipment from Cape Canaveral tonight.

The experimental espresso machine is intended for Italian International Space Station astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. It was supposed to arrive in January, shortly after her arrival, so she could get some relief from the station’s instant coffee. But it ended up on the back burner after a station shipment from Virginia was lost in a launch explosion.

The espresso maker is dubbed ISSpresso – ISS standing for International Space Station. Italian coffee giant Lavazza joined forces with the Turin-based engineering company Argotec and the Italian Space Agency to provide a specially designed machine for use off the planet. Space agency Nasa certified its safety.

Launch of a previous SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Image by Steve Jurvetson / CC BY 2.0

Nasa’s space station programme deputy manager Dan Hartman said it was all part of making astronauts feel at home as they spend months, and even up to a year, in orbit. Mission Control already gives astronauts full access to email, phone calls, private video hook-ups, and live news and sports broadcasts.

“The psychological support is very, very important,” Mr Hartman said. “If an espresso machine comes back and we get a lot of great comments from the crew … it’s kind of like the ice cream thing when we fly ice cream every now and then.

“It’s just to boost spirits. Maybe some rough day, a scoop of ice cream gets them over that hump kind of thing.”

The SpaceX Dragon supply ship also holds experiments for Nasa’s one-year space station resident Scott Kelly, who moved in a couple of weeks ago. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will also remain on board until March 2016.

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Korniyenko, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, gesture as they walk to a bus from a hotel prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Image by (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

This will be the California-based SpaceX company’s seventh station supply run since 2012, all from Cape Canaveral.

For the third time, SpaceX will attempt to land its leftover booster vertically on an ocean barge. Both previous tests failed.

Improvements to the first-stage booster and floating platform, based on lessons learned from the January and February attempts, should boost the odds of success this time to 75% or possibly 80%, said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of mission assurance for SpaceX.

This undated product image made from video provided by Lavazza shows a prototype of Lavazza and Argotec’s “ISSpresso” machine. The final version will be the first real Italian espresso machine on The International Space Station. Image by (AP Photo/Lavazza)

SpaceX’s billionaire founder Elon Musk wants to save time and money by reusing the boosters normally discarded in the Atlantic. In fact, the company is transforming a former missile-launching site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station into a landing pad for its revolutionary flyback boosters.

Today’s scheduled launch time is 4.33pm (9.43pm BST). Forecasters put the odds of good weather at 60%.

(Press Association)