A short history of brands in space
The great brands have wanted space for sixty years.
From a Swiss watch on a three-orbit flight in 1962 to a grand vin aged on the space station, the world’s best-known companies have understood what space adds to an object, a campaign and a name. Nostimere is the house built to do it for them.
$1,625,000
Paid in 2015 for a Bulova watch worn on the Moon in 1971.
8 million+
Concurrent live viewers for Red Bull Stratos in 2012.
1,045 days
Ardbeg’s whisky experiment in orbit, before it came home in 2014.
A gold mark means the object flew and came home.
Where it began
The first objects in orbit
1962
Breitling
The first Swiss wristwatch in space
Scott Carpenter wore a Navitimer Cosmonaute, with a 24-hour dial, on the three orbits of Aurora 7 on 24 May 1962. Breitling kept the original in its archive for sixty years.
Source1965 · 1969
Omega
From flight qualification to the Moonwatch
NASA declared the Speedmaster flightworthy for all crewed missions on 1 March 1965. On 20 July 1969 it became the first watch worn on the Moon.
Source1985
Coca-Cola and Pepsi
The cola wars, in orbit
Both companies flew purpose-built cans on Space Shuttle mission STS-51F. Coca-Cola declared itself the first soft drink tasted in space, and used it in its marketing.
Source
The last twenty-five years
From stunt to strategy
2001
Pizza Hut
The first delivery to space
A vacuum-sealed pizza reached the International Space Station on a Soyuz flight in 2001, arranged as a promotion so the brand could claim the first delivery to space.
Source2009
Louis Vuitton
Core Values, with astronauts
Annie Leibovitz photographed Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride and Jim Lovell for the Core Values campaign, marking forty years since the first Moon landing. Space as a story, before anything flew.
Source2011 – 2014
Ardbeg
Whisky matured in orbit
A vial of Ardbeg compounds spent 1,045 days aboard the space station to study maturation in microgravity, returning on 12 September 2014. Ardbeg released Supernova 2014 the same day.
Source2012
Red Bull
Stratos, watched live by millions
Felix Baumgartner’s jump from 128,000 feet on 14 October 2012 drew more than eight million concurrent live viewers on YouTube, a record at the time.
Source2015
Lavazza
The first espresso in space
On 3 May 2015 Samantha Cristoforetti brewed the first espresso on the space station, in the ISSpresso machine built by Lavazza and Argotec.
Source2015
Bulova
A flown watch sets a record
The Bulova chronograph Dave Scott wore on the Moon during Apollo 15 in 1971 sold at RR Auction on 22 October 2015 for $1,625,000, a record for astronaut memorabilia.
Source2018
adidas
From orbit to the World Cup opening
A Telstar 18 ball spent 74 days on the space station, came home on 3 June 2018, and was carried onto the pitch for the World Cup opening match in Moscow eleven days later.
Source2018
Mumm
Champagne made for weightlessness
G.H. Mumm and the design studio Spade created Grand Cordon Stellar, a bottle and glass for drinking champagne in microgravity, tasted by the cellar master on a zero-gravity flight.
Source2019
Lamborghini
Carbon fibre tested in orbit
Five Lamborghini carbon-fibre materials flew to the space station with Houston Methodist to test how they withstand radiation, temperature and atomic oxygen.
Source2019 – 2021
Pétrus
A grand vin aged in orbit
Twelve bottles of Pétrus 2000 spent fourteen months on the space station and returned in January 2021. Christie’s offered one privately at an estimate of up to $1 million.
Source2020
Estée Lauder
A campaign photographed in space
Estée Lauder paid NASA $128,000 to fly ten bottles of Advanced Night Repair to the space station and photograph them in the Cupola for its social channels. One bottle was to be auctioned for charity on its return.
Source2024
Columbia Sportswear
A jacket technology on the Moon
Columbia’s Omni-Heat Infinity reflective material insulated a propulsion tank on Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander, launched on 15 February 2024, which landed near the Moon’s south pole a week later.
Source2024
Prada
Dressing the return to the Moon
Prada worked with Axiom Space on the outer layer and materials of the AxEMU spacesuit for NASA’s Artemis III mission, unveiled at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan on 25 October 2024.
Source2025
IWC Schaffhausen
Timekeeper to a commercial space station
On 30 September 2025 IWC became the official timekeeper of Vast, the company building the Haven-1 commercial space station, to develop mechanical watches for spaceflight.
Source
What comes next
Each of these was arranged once. Nostimere makes it a practice.
A strategy on earth, a place on the mission, the moments around it, and a Certificate of Return for everything that comes home. One house, for every partner, on every flight.
Nostimere was not involved in any of the projects shown. Company and product names are used for historical reference only and belong to their owners. Facts are taken from the published sources linked beside each entry, as of October 2026.