Space might be the final frontier, but these days one is more likely to hear about new advances in food technology over men, moons and the NASA spaceships that get them there.

The public seem to have lost their fascination with all things not of the terra firma, and who could blame them? We've seen a decade of under-funded Space Stations and Mars probes set to fail magnificently because NASA was working in Metric and Imperial systems at the same time! And who could forget the most recent striking images sent from an orbiting space mission. No lunar landers or heroic feats of anti-gravity splendour here, just some dude in a suit applying futuristic gap-filler to a decade old, defunct space-shuttle.

It's no wonder the Chinese are stepping up in their attempts to extricate themselves from the Earth's surface, and I for one wish them well. Gulf War sequels and a once-in-a-generation sized hurricanes tend to deplete spending on playing around in the vacuum of space, much to the contradiction of NASA's recent $105 billion plan to have new footsteps on the moon by 2018 and men on Mars not long after.

Even corporate business is getting a better hand than NASA in the race to colonise space. Do you know the bloke who sold Paypal to Ebay for a rumoured $1.5 billion? No neither do I, but in a recent announcement he claims his new company, SpaceX, will "build the world's most powerful rocket in two years". Claims like that used to be the propaganda dreams of world super-powers - dreams that are now wielded by the elite internet-billionaires club.

So until the future comes how will us lowly Earth dwellers get our extra-terra fix? Leave it to the Japanese to solve the problem in the most characteristically unique way imaginable:

"TOKYO - The makers of Japan's favorite instant ramen noodles will soon be airing a commercial that's truly out of this world.

Starting next month, Nissin Food Products Co. will film a promotional spot on the International Space Station for Cup Noodle, featuring a sales pitch by a hungry Russian cosmonaut.

The commercial will air in Japan in November as part of Nissin's "Cup Noodle No Border" campaign, according to a statement Wednesday by Japan's space program, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA..." - link

Even the great Flying Spaghetti Monster himself would be pleased with this morphing of noodle-space technology! Talk about new sauces of funding (spot the awful pun and win a prize)...

Thanks Japan. You've made my day, and maybe, just maybe, put a sparkle in the eye and a rumble in the tummy of prospective space cadets everywhere.

Thanks Scarab Dreamer and News.3Yen!
Categories: Japan, China, Culture, News, Food, Weird, Science, Space, NASA, Future, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Humour, WTF, Technology