Uber Eats makes its first food delivery to space
The delivery to the ISS included boiled mackerel in miso and simmered chicken with bamboo shoots.
When you're living on board the International Space Station, you can't just whip out the Uber Eats app and get your favorite pizza delivered into orbit. Or can you? On Tuesday, Uber Eats announced it had made its first food delivery to space, but it wasn't anything like a normal delivery.
Instead of sending a driver to swing by a restaurant and take a meal to its destination, Uber Eats used Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, a space tourist visiting the ISS. On Dec. 11, Maezawa delivered a brown paper Uber Eats bag and a selection of ready-to-eat canned Japanese foods to the ISS crew.
"With dishes including boiled mackerel in miso, beef bowl cooked in sweet sauce, simmered chicken with bamboo shoots, and braised pork, Uber Eats and Maezawa treated the astronauts to a delicious meal that was a welcome break from standard space food," Uber said in a statement.
Maezawa caught a ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft last week, a prelude adventure to an even grander plan. Maezawa is funding a future SpaceX mission to fly around the moon in a Starship spacecraft in 2023.
Space tourism is on the rise and Maezawa is one of the latest people to explore a rocket-powered vacation option. He's been sharing updates on YouTube and social media about what it's like to use the ISS restroom and brush his teeth in microgravity. He also delivered a gorgeous time-lapse video of an orbit around Earth.
While the Uber Eats ISS delivery was a clever marketing move, it was still thoughtful of Maezawa to bring some snacks to the space party.