Tech - News
The Reason Why You're Not Allowed To Have Soda In Space
By KAYLA DUBE
Astronauts must forgo soda in space, due to safety concerns, as the carbon dioxide that makes up the bubbles in soda won’t be able to rise to the top of the beverage to be released without the force of gravity. Instead, the bubbles in space will randomly disperse through the soda, making for what would likely turn to foam.
Space also impacts how soda is digested: An astronaut would be drinking much more CO2 since the gas can’t escape the liquid as easily, which in turn would cause much more burping — an unpleasant occurrence. When burps happen in space, there is usually some liquid accompanying it as liquids and gases have a harder time separating in space.
In 1985, Coca-Cola and Pepsi both created a special "space-proof" can that would allow the soda to stay fizzy as astronauts drank, and four of these were sent into space on the Challenger. The special cans, however, didn’t stop the issue of digestion in space, so were more of a novelty publicity stunt than anything else, and weren't continuously allowed on space missions.