Roscosmos turns rockets into billboards as Coffee Mania sponsors Russian house missions

Need to know

Russia’s state-sponsored space agency Roscosmos is reportedly struggling to make ends meet, with foreign partners pulling funds following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

Russian rockets turn into flying billboards – need to know

• Russia’s cash-strapped space agency Roscosmos is turning its rockets into flying billboards as it desperately seeks funding after foreign partners pulled out following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
• The space agency has struck deals with Russian companies including banks, radio stations and coffee chain Coffee Mania, raising 191 million rubles (£2 million) from sponsors willing to plaster their logos on spacecraft.
• Coffee Mania is going the extra mile by providing freeze-dried beverages to cosmonauts and branding their shuttle. The chain said: “The first batch of freeze-dried drinks will be sent to the ISS in space packaging: Ethiopian Arbegona filter coffee and rosehip. It took almost a year to achieve the exact same taste as the drinks served to guests of Coffee Mania.”
• The coffee company has even created a special cake described by Chief Pastry Chef Elena Zheleznyakova as “the embodiment of space aesthetics”, though they haven’t explained what this has to do with space.
• Despite the advertising push generating around £50,000, it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the £4 billion cost of a single rocket launch.
• The funding crisis comes as Russia partners with China to build a permanent lunar base by 2036, hoping to rival NASA’s moon ambitions.
• READ THE FULL STORY: Penny pinching Russian NASA forced to put coffee adverts on side of rockets