"Where there's Barilla, there's home," ran the motto of a 1980s advertisement for the Parma-based company. Today, that "home" is the ISS, or International Space Station. In fact, three kilos of pure Barilla fusilli will board a space capsule that will send the crew of the Ax-3 mission into orbit, directed by Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, next January. This program was created through a collaboration between the Barilla food conglomerate, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Air Force, and Axiom Space to support the nomination of Italian cuisine as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Astronauts prepare and consume food in the same way that the rest of us do, but weightlessness transforms the everyday routine on Earth into a technological challenge in space. The pasta must also adjust to these conditions. Because boiling pasta in microgravity is impossible, fusilli destined for space are already cooked and ready to be heated and enjoyed. Barilla's R&D team worked hard to guarantee that the recipe, which consists only of pasta, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt, mimics the taste experience we know on Earth and retains its al dente texture straight from the start.
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