This article is classified "Fictional"
Earth's most popular drink had a problem when people first went into space.
It was relatively early that history had the first dog in space, the first
woman in space, and the first marital consummation in space. However the
first Coke in space ended in disaster. The problem with Coke cans is
firstly to do with pressure difference. If you take a coke can into the
hard vacuum of space, the pressure of the carbonated drink inside will
explode the can, sending aluminum shrapnel in all directions, damaging
satellites, shuttles, and especially astronauts in space suits [1].
If you sensibly open the can inside the pressurized cabin compartment then
the gas escaping from the can's ring-pull will project the can in the
opposite direction. Of course, you usually hold the can firmly tight when
opening it, and so the whole system of yourself and the coke can is shot
through the cabin. Eventually you figure out how to point the top of the
can straight up and position your feet on the ground. You can open your
can and absorb the pressure with your legs. Then you then come across the
problem that the ring-pull is not perfectly symmetrical. The gas escapes
from one side faster than the other. The coke can may twist from your
grasp, spraying liquid sugar in a Catherine Wheel of gunk. Alternatively,
you may be the one to start spinning [2].
Not to be defeated, the food scientists designed a widget which released
the gas in a safe and symmetrical fashion. This is the source for the
advertising campaign:
Widget, Its got a Widget,
A lovely Widget,
A Widget it has got,
A Widget.
[1] It is rather silly trying to drink from a coke can inside a space
suit when the coke can is outside.
[2] This is the reason for those training machines which spin prospective
astronauts in all directions at once.
[3] From: John Holland <jholland@aoc.nrao.edu>
FYI, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have developed cans for dispensing their
beverages for space shuttle crews. I saw some film of the first
trials in space. Quite amusing actually. The beverage would come out
as a foam spheroid, which would be played with by the crew. They
would blow on the edges to make it spin, or just follow it around the
cabin and sneak up on it and consume it.
There is an example of one of the actual cans on display at the
National Space Hall of Fame (or something like that) in Alamogordo,
New Mexico, located near White Sands Missile Range.