(ORDO NEWS) — M&M’s Chocolate Dragee has been one of the sweet tooth’s favorite treats since 1941. And while you are most likely aware of the worldwide acclaim for these tiny candies, you may not have heard of their cosmic reputation.
On April 12, 1981, M&M’s, or “Candy coated chocolates” as NASA called them, made their first space flight on the Columbia shuttle.
In an effort to remove as much branding as possible, the space agency not only renamed the popular dragee, but also repackaged it in vacuum sealed bags. However, the easily recognizable lowercase “m” remained intact.
In space, astronauts found solace in familiar earthly treats, and M&M’s soon became one of the most popular sweets in orbit.
In addition, astronauts sometimes even had fun with M & M’s, using the advantage of weightlessness for these purposes: a handful of dragees was thrown into the air, and then each of the sweets was caught in the mouth.
When NASA’s last shuttle Atlantis launched into space on July 8, 2011, you can be sure it had M&M’s on board. Moreover, especially for this flight, Mars released a limited batch of M&M’s.
The commemorative pills in red, gray and blue were emblazoned with the image of the space shuttle, the phrase “3-2-1 Lift Off” or the date: July 8, 2011.
During its “space career” M&M’s have been on more than 130 flights, bringing smiles to men and women who were forced to temporarily say goodbye to earthly life.
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