The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station crew of Barry Wilmore of the U.S., and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of Russia blasts off from the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome September 26, 2014. The Russian rocket
The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station crew of Barry Wilmore of the U.S., and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of Russia blasts off from the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome September 26, 2014. The Russian rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, taking to orbit a U.S.-Russian trio including the first Russian woman to serve on the $100 billion space outpost. Reuters

An update from zero-gravity is that the International Space Station will be getting a coffee machine. The ISSpresso machine will help the astronauts get access to freshly brewed expressos, an improvement from the instant coffee that they used to consume.

According to The Guardian, the ISSpresso machine will reach the space station this weekend. The machine will be carried to the ISS by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, a 37-year old born in Milan, Italy. She is a captain in the Italian airforce, and she will be the first female astronaut to go to space from Italy.

The machine weighs 20 kilogrammes and is designed by Lavazza, famous Italian coffee makers, and Argotec, which is an engineering firm that specialises in making food meant for space. In a statement by Lavazza and Argotec, the companies said that Cristoforetti will be "the very first astronaut in the history of the conquest of space to savour an authentic Italian espresso in orbit."

The companies have said that the machine used "extraterrestrial" capsules. It also said that the machine operated in "microgravity" conditions. The director general of Argotec, David Avino, said that the machine was a technological advancement that conformed to the technical requirements as well as the strict security measure that was imposed on the two companies by the Italian space agency.

While making the machine, one of the challenges that the engineers faced was how to get the liquids flowing properly in the condition of zero gravity. The engineers of the machine have installed steel piping which help withstand the high pressure, reported The Vine. The machine also uses a water pouch. The companies said that the astronauts would have to drink their coffee through a straw.

Cristoforetti will be accompanied by Terri Virts, an America, and Anton Shkaplerov, a Russian, in a Soyuz rocket that will be launched in Kazakhstan. The trio will stay in space until May 2015.

The trio will join an astronaut from America, Barry Wilmore, and two cosmonauts from Russia, Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova. The latter trio will be returning to Earth in March.