EM launch

> A debate on the problems of alcohol (while perhaps interesting) probably
> could not be said to be on-topic for the SSI maillist.

...unless we turn to the the issue of distilling booze in a space environment, with access to vacuum and great temperature variations...
(As a Norwegian born and bred I'm not unused to quoting sugar prices in kroner per bottle.)
:-)
I remember reading a short story by a countryman of mine where the issue was bootleg liquor in a large space ship. The detective, after purchasing some for himself as a matter of routine, found it was distilled by near-vacuum: lowering the boiling point of the alcohol rather than raising the temperature.
Of course, were I in a space habitat I would very probably not be interested in chemical alterations of my state of mind, whether alcohol or other. I'd consider myself to be high enough as it were.
Jokes aside, we could turn this into a discussion of alcohol and drug policies in a space habitat. Will drunkenness be forbidden, at least in an early habitat, for the same very good reason that drunkenness while driving is forbidden on the Earth? Will an early habitat be so stressful and claustrophobic that many residents will seek temporary oblivion with mind-altering substances?

Jon Lennart Beck.