From the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC: a Pepsi can designed for astronauts!

In 1984, researchers for Coca Cola had an idea about dispensing carbonated beverages in space to give astronauts more choices to drink and also to create a stellar advertising opportunity. The company developed a can that would work in weightlessness to keep the cola fizzy without spewing out of the can. NASA agreed to let the astronauts try the Coke device on a Shuttle flight. When Pepsi learned of this project, it also wanted to participate and developed its own container. Both Coke and Pepsi products were flown on the STS 51-F mission in 1985 so crew members could evaluate the dispensers and do a taste test. Results were mixed and NASA did not add either company's product to the Shuttle food pantry; the mid-1980s "Cola Wars" continued on earth but not in space. NASA gave the Museum this extra Pepsi can that was modified for spaceflight.

Image: Moving Beyond Earth exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

[via Bruce Sterling] Read the rest

Pepsi has confirmed that it has files lawsuits against four farmers in India who grew a variety of potato that was registered as being for the exclusive production of the company's Lay's potato chips. Read the rest

Pepsi's plan to pay a Russian company called Startrocket to loft an artificial constellation of cubesats with mylar sails to advertise a "nonalcoholic energy beverage" has been cancelled for unspecified reasons (the company says its prototype launch using high-altitude balloons was a "one-time event"). Read the rest

Pepsi has announced plans to contract with the Russian space startup Startrocket to project massive "artificial constellations" spelling out ads for a "nonalcoholic energy beverage" in the night sky; Startrocket is planning to launch a cluster of cubesats with reflective mylar sails in 2021. Read the rest

Portland activist Carlos Enrique demonstrated how Pepsi’s tone-deaf protest ad would actually play out in real life by handing Mayor Ted Wheeler a can of Pepsi during a City Council meeting. Read the rest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BZifBEOp5Y

How, you say, could Pepsi have been stupid enough to run a TV ad that trivialized the popular uprising against the official murder of black people by American law enforcement? The answer is obvious: They Live. (via JWZ) Read the rest