In February 2002, Beefjerky.com
sent an email to Mark Shuttleworth inviting him to sample Final Frontier
Jerky for his consideration to carry it on his historic spaceflight
to the International Space Station. Mark is the second private astronaut
ever to fly to Space.
In a friendly reply, Mark
agreed to sample Beefjerky.com's flagship product and graciously provided
his shipping address at the Yuri Gagarin Spaceflight Training Center
in Star City, Russia.
In March 2002, almost two
pounds of Final Frontier Jerky was packaged up and sent via FedEx to
Star City. The package made its way through Russian Customs without
incident and was received by Mark in good condition.
Mark taste-tested the black
pepper flavor beef jerky and responded via email, "This is the
best beef jerky I ever ate. I'm partial to South African biltong, but
your beef jerky is really very good." He did not have time to try
and have the beef jerky officially manifested for his flight, so he
volunteered to attempt to "smuggle" a small amount aboard
his Soyuz spacecraft in the pocket of his spacesuit.
Beefjerky.com happily replied
to Mark with an offer to provide another supply of fresh Final Frontier
Jerky closer to his launch date, 25 April, 2002. Mark replied that he
would leave Star City on the 18th of April and head for Russia's Baikonur
Cosmodrome launch facility in Kazakhstan, so he would need to receive
the fresh samples before the 18th.
On April 8th, 2002, another
two pounds of Beefjerky.com's finest was boxed up and sent via FedEx
to Star City. Customs once again allowed its entry into Russia and it
was safely received by Mark on April 16th.
Here is what Mark had to say about Final Frontier
Jerky and his Soyuz space flight:
Soyuz crew members are allowed 1.5kg of personal items under normal
circumstances, and they also tend to carry a few more items up inside
their space suits. We wouldn't really be able to eat anything until
we were up there, so I asked the ground crew to pack the beef jerky
in with the other declared items. It would have been nice to have something
to snack on while we were waiting - in some suspense - on the launch
pad.
After boarding the Soyuz
there are long periods with nothing to do while the rocket undergoes
final checks and the countdown proceeds. Launch and the ride to orbit
are just incredible, but once we were up there we were all hungry and
the beef jerky made a very welcome treat.
I kept some for the days
we spent on the station - it was a hit with the crew. One of the other
crew members remembered it from a previous shuttle flight too. It's
great on the ground, but I think it tastes best in space!
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