At about the same time most of the East Coast will be reaching for its afternoon coffee fix, SpaceX will be launching a much-needed espresso maker to the International Space Station.

After today, the Space Station crew will no longer have to endure drinking instant freeze-dried coffee, and will instead be able to get a freshly percolated bag of hot espresso whenver they need thier caffeine fix.

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At 4:33pm EDT today SpaceX, a space transport services company,  will launch its sixth official Commercial Resupply (CRS) mission to the orbiting laboratory from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

If the blast off is a success the spacecraft - called Dragon - will arrive at the International Space Station in approximately two days. It is expected return to Earth some five weeks later for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of southern California.

According to SpaceX, the Dragon will be loaded up with more than two tons of supplies and payloads. Science payloads will investigate new ways to counteract the microgravity-induced cell damage, including to the most common cells in bones, seen during spaceflight. The mission will also gather new insight that could lead to treatments for osteoporosis and muscle wasting conditions, and test a new material that could eventually be used as a synthetic muscle for robotics explorers.

However, the most highly anticipated piece of equipment being sent to the Space Station is most likely a microgravity espresso maker known as ISSpresso.

It will take astronauts only minutes to set up ISSpresso on the orbiting lab -

Once the ISSpresso arrives at the Space Station, the astronauts will simply take it out the box, secure it to the wall with bungee cords, and get some water in a standard pouch, reports Space.com

"The design and the entire system was built from scratch," David Avino, the managing director of engineering and software company Argotec, told Space.com, because "there are a lot of safety requirements."

Those requirements include keeping the hot water inside the machine after the espresso is finished. While water residue is normal in espresso machines on Earth, the danger of boiling-hot bubbles leaking from the machine in microgravity required Argotec to solve the issue.

Stainless steel has replaced the usual plastic tubing inside the device, making it more resistant of pressures of up to 400 bars.

TagsEspresso Maker Blasts Off to Space Station, SpaceX, Dragon, espresso maker, David Avino, Argotec