Listen&Learn: Space espresso

Learn how astronauts drink coffee.

Pre-listening vocabulary

• joint: combining two or more people or groups
• astronaut: a person who travels to space
• portmanteau: a word that combines the sounds of two words
• capsule: a small container shaped like a cylinder
• seal: to close something completely
• manipulate: to control something
• surface tension: the force that holds particles of a liquid together

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

In 2015, the Italian Space Agency launched the first espresso into space. It was a joint between Lavazza, an Italian company, and Argotec, an engineering company that makes food for the European Space Agency. The machine is called the ISSpresso, a portmanteau of espresso and the ISS, or International Space Station. The ISSpresso brews the coffee using small capsules of coffee grounds and pours it into sealed . It also comes with zero-gravity coffee cups that manipulate surface tension to stop the from floating away. The first person to use the ISSpresso was Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who was also the first Italian woman to go to space.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Argotec is
   a. a brand of coffee
   b. an engineering company
   c. a space station
   
2. The ISSpresso pours coffee into
   a. sealed bags
   b. zero-gravity coffee cups
   c. plastic capsules
   
3. Samantha Cristoforetti was
   a. the lead engineer of the ISSpresso
   b. the first astronaut to use the ISSpresso
   c. the designer of the zero-gravity coffee cup

Discussion/essay questions

1. Would you ever want to go to space? Why or why not? What do you think would be the hardest part of being an astronaut?

Transcript

In 2015, the Italian Space Agency launched the first espresso machine into space. It was a joint project between Lavazza, an Italian coffee company, and Argotec, an engineering company that makes food for the European Space Agency. The machine is called the ISSpresso, a portmanteau of espresso and the ISS, or International Space Station. The ISSpresso brews the coffee using small capsules of coffee grounds and pours it into sealed bags. It also comes with zero-gravity coffee cups that manipulate surface tension to stop the liquid from floating away. The first person to use the ISSpresso was Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who was also the first Italian woman to go to space.

Answers to comprehension questions

1b 2a 3b