Astronauts long drank instant coffee from pouches, until Italian aerospace firm Argotec and Lavazza teamed up in 2014 to ask whether real espresso could be brewed without gravity. The Italian Space Agency sponsored the ISSpresso as a payload, which opened the path to NASA approval. In an 18 month program the team built four versions: a 2D model to prove the plumbing, an elegance model for the mechanics, a ground model identical to the flight unit for launch vibration, thermal, and electromagnetic testing, and the protoflight model that actually flew. The finished machine measured 43 by 42 by 36 centimeters and weighed nearly 20 kilograms.

Because a burst line would release floating balls of scalding water near life support electronics, plastic tubing gave way to steel ducts rated to 400 bar, about 5,800 PSI, when espresso needs 9 to 15. Microswitches stop the flow unless the capsule door is sealed, an aluminum piston ejects used capsules into a pouch, and a zero G cup uses capillary action along a sharp inner corner to bring coffee to the lips. The ISSpresso reached the station on SpaceX CRS-6 on April 14, 2015, and doubled as a fluid dynamics experiment on foam and multiphase flow.

• Its water container used the same connections as the station’s existing potable water dispenser.
• Settings included a 30 ml short, a 60 ml long, a 120 ml option for tea or broth, and a 60 ml flush.
• Samantha Cristoforetti drank the first espresso brewed in microgravity on May 3, 2015.
• Paolo Nespoli used it for International Coffee Day on September 30, 2017.
• Its mission ended December 14, 2017, and it returned to Earth on SpaceX CRS-13.