Visit from Russian astronaut
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- 1 min
- Published:
- 29 April 2004
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Arla Foods Innovation hosted a visit by Russian astronaut Vladimir Kovalenok.
”I love milk! I drink at least 3 litres a day.”
With this enthusiastic statement former Russian astronaut Vladimir Kovalenok kicked off his visit to Arla Foods on 28 April.
In the years between 1977-81, Kovalenok participated in three space flights, spending a total of 216 days in space. Hardly surprising, he is something of an expert on what astronauts miss (including fresh milk) when in orbit.
”During a space flight eating the right food is important because of the many detailed tasks the astronauts have to perform,” explained Vladimir Kovalenok. “As eating is also a social occasion in space, it is best when the food is as natural as possible. It doesn’t do to swallow vitamin pills”.
As Arla Foods has been developing dairy products for space travel since 2001, Vladimir Kovalenok was, of course, asked to sample some of the products currently under development.
”In fact, he gave all our products top marks and said that he hoped his colleagues would get the chance to try the products,” said Group Director Michael Stevns.
In the years between 1977-81, Vladimir Kovalenok participated in three space flights, spending a total of 216 days in space.
Vladimir Kovalenok is currently President of the Russian Federation of Astronauts.
Project Manager Carsten Hallund Slot from Arla Foods’ space programme, Lacmos, said:
”As well as the honour, Vladimir Kovalenok’s visit gave us a fantastic opportunity to question a consumer. We’re accustomed to testing new products on ”normal” consumers prior to production. But when it comes to products for use in space, testing is a bit more difficult. It was also fun to see him handle the products in its special packaging. You could easily see that he had tried it all before.”
Vladimir Kovalenok was visiting Denmark in connection with the opening of the Centre for Space Travel at Aalborg University, where he was guest of honour.
Arla Foods is an international dairy company owned by more than 8,400 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Arla Foods is one of the leading players in the international dairy arena with well-known brands like Arla®, Lurpak®, Puck® and Castello®. Arla Foods is focused on providing good dairy nourishment from sustainable farming and operations and is also the world's largest manufacturer of organic dairy products.
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