Hasta La Ideas

As part of its 125th anniversary, Coca-Cola will be taking over the Design Museum’s outdoor Tank space from Friday in a show featuring archive material such as specially developed Coke cans for astronauts

In July 1985, astronauts tested the specially adapted ‘Coca-Cola Space Can’ (above) aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger along with cans of its rival, Pepsi (you can see theirs here). The results weren’t succesful though. According to a Los Angeles Times article, “Mission Commander Gordon Fullerton, in the first news conference since the astronauts returned earlier this month from their eight-day mission, said neither the Coke nor the Pepsi they sampled in space was very enjoyable.” There was no refrigeration available so, apparently, the drinks were warm and very frothy. (There’s an interesting Nasa piece about the problems of eating and drinking in space here).

The Design Museum exhibition will concentrate on Coke packaging and its logo and will feature a number of items from the company’s archive including the first glass Coke bottle and an original soda fountain from 1896.

The show will run for six weeks.

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