We never had that here...
Probably because it has a very unique American history...
How NASA Made Tang Cool - No one wanted the orange stuff until it went to space.
When one is orbiting Earth at 17,000 miles per hour, one is bound to get thirsty. That's presumably what happened to astronaut John Glenn while taking his first jaunt around the globe on February 20th, 1962. Unfortunately, the poor taste of the onboard life support system water (due to a nontoxic chemical reaction) made that option not particularly attractive. Luckily, Glenn had Tang.
For the past six decades, kids, astronauts and South Americans alike have used the orange-flavored sugar powder known as Tang to spruce up their H2O. While there is a common misconception that the minds at NASA invented it, that's not true. Tang was actually available on grocery store shelves a few years prior to Glenn's mission. But NASA did make Tang cool.
In 1957, food scientist William Mitchell of the General Foods Corporation came up with what he called "Tang Flavor Crystals." After two years of research and development, Tang was put on grocery shelves in the United States (and Venezuela and West Germany ) in the fall of 1959. It was marketed as a breakfast drink packed with vitamin C that "you don't squeeze, unfreeze, or refrigerate." None of that made it sound particularly delicious and not surprisingly, it didn't sell particularly well.
It was around 1960 when someone at NASA realized the consumer-grade drink powder was exactly what the astronauts needed in space. So, the government made a deal with General Foods to buy the powder in bulk.
Records are not entirely clear if Glenn actually ever used the Tang powder onboard the capsule during that first flight. However, as far as General Foods was concerned, it didn't matter. Their orange-flavored powder went to space and that was a good enough marketing gimmick for them.
General Foods began marketing the powder as a space-age drink. Tang accompanied astronauts to the nether regions for the next decade. Needless to say, the advertising was effective. Tang sales shot through the roof and became one of the best-selling drinks of its day.
Years later, Tang no longer holds sway over the American public like it did decades ago. However, sales are still strong in South America which helped make the orange drink into a billion dollar global brand. In 2013, Buzz Aldrin - the second man to walk on the moon - finally answered the question many were thinking: Did astronauts actually drink Tang while in space? He said yes, but they didn't enjoy it. The never-subtle Aldrin exclaimed to anyone within earshot, "Tang sucks."
