A friend of me works together with the Russian space agency (on this project).
As that vodka is an essential of Russian life, e.g. As medicine, they seems to see the need to take it with them in space.
So I got this Russian vodka made for cosmonauts. This stuff is not on sale.
As you can see in the picture it's not in any kind of real bottle. It's filled in plastic bags. Just as we expected it from space food after all this movies. It remembers me a bit of the Russian guy in the armageddon movie.
But let's take a closer look. I am so keen and try to use this as a gauge to estimate the value of vodka in the Russian (space) society.
Let's assume that a Russian Space Agency work rational and compare value and utility (in the economic sense). Means the price (value) to bring the vodka in space is less or equal the benefit (utility) the Russians see in it.
So, let's take a look at the costs. The good old Russian Soyuz is still the cheapest rocket to get stuff in space (everything else cost at least two times more). 1 ton just 17,4 Mio Dollars. AS that we have here 0,5 l Vodka (bdw. good one, 40 % vol), and the Russian order Vodka in gram, I assume this is half a kg.
So, the damn "bottle" equals roughly equals 8.700 Dollars costs, just to bring it up. And this should be the minimum value the Russian space agency sees in it.
Cool, isn't it :)
I will never drink this vodka (expect when I am really, really drunk)
One question remains... how much of the bottles they get up there with every flight? Cauz, with half a liter they don't go far.
Regards
Gilles
P.S.
Please feel free to correct my line of argumentation
