French wine, vines head home after spending a year in space

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

By Isoken Osagie

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) A dozen bottles of French Bordeaux wine and snippets of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines that spent a year aging in space are returning to earth.

In addition to ardent spirits, the Associated Press reports the International Space Station is also returning thousands of pounds of gear and research, including mice — scheduled to touch down late Wednesday on the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa.

Here's a video of SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule undocking on Tuesday:

According to the Associated Press, the experiment is backed by Luxembourg startup, Space Cargo Unlimited. Wine bottles won't be opened until the end of February when the company plans to host an "out-of-this-world" wine tasting in Bordeaux.

After which, months of chemical testing will ensue as scientists research how space might have altered the sedimentation and bubbles.

Space Cargo Unlimited CEO and co-founder Nicolas Gaume said, "Our goal is to tackle the solution of how we’re going to have an agriculture tomorrow that is both organic and healthy and able to feed humanity, and we think space has the key," per the Associated Press.

Guame added, "Being French, it's part of life to have some good food and good wine."

Private investors helped fund the experiments — however, Guame declined to provide the project's cost.

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