By 
June 27th, 2026
Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab
On June 23, a SpaceX Falcon 9 high-tailed into Earth orbit carrying the Starfall Demo mission.
The SpaceX Starfall reentry vehicle is built to parachute to Earth, splashing down in ocean waters for recovery.
A payload onboard Starfall comes from Starbase Brewing – the Brewery Archive Space Exposure Demonstrator.
Fermentative firm
“This was the successor to our MicroBrew-1 and OASIS missions that were performed on the International Space Station last year,” the fermentative firm states.
In MicroBrew-1, an astronaut combined wort and yeast (the same two ingredients using in brewing beer) “so we could study alcohol fermentation in microgravity. The OASIS experiment successfully grew the first-ever crops in soil in space. Humanity is still in the early days of orbital manufacturing but we aim to stay at the forefront of it!”
Image credit: Starbase Brewing
Brewing yeasts
The company notes that dozens of different strains of brewing yeasts, distiller’s yeasts, and wine yeasts from around the world are contained within the reentry craft.
Image credit: Starbase Brewing
They also hint that they might soon be announcing “some insanely cool new products soon.”
Clearly using a lot of swagger and sway, the Texas-based craft beer distributor say they are aiming to be the first brewery on the Moon and Mars.
Also tucked within Starfall are seeds from native Texas plants, including Bluebonnets.
Once on Earth, the plan is to analyze the yeast strains and seeds to see how they adapted to the spaceflight environment.
Image credit: SpaceX
FAA review
Back in May, the FAA released an “Environmental Review for SpaceX Starfall.” The review evaluated the environmental impacts of reentry, splashdown, and recovery activities.
Under the proposal, SpaceX would launch two Starfall missions to Low Earth Orbit or to a sub-orbital trajectory as a payload on the Falcon 9 or the Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicles. The capsules would splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. west coast in international waters.
Hush-hush initiative
Under the Proposed Action addressed in the Environmental Assessment (EA), FAA noted it would modify SpaceX’s existing license to conduct up to 10 reentries per year with the Pacific Ocean as its primary landing location.
The SpaceX Starfall concept has largely been a hush-hush initiative by the company, exploring how the microgravity environment can be used for manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs, semiconductors, and other products, now identified as brewing in space.
From Starbase Brewing, “big things are brewing” they have announced. “In 2026, we will announce some truly groundbreaking beer innovations — like nothing you’ve seen (or tasted) before!”
Image credit: Starbase Brewing
Posted in Space News
