Can beer be made in space?

That's the thesis of Michal Bodzianowski's sixth grade science experiment, which won a national space contest and the right to be tested by the commercial space exploration firm Nanorocks, according to The Denver Post.

Hops, malted barley, yeast and water - the essential ingredients of beer - will arrive, carefully separated by clamps, at the International Space Station in a six-inch tube sometime in December, reported The Post. When it does, the attending astronaut will only have to remove the clamps and shake to test Michal's hypothesis. The 11-year-old hopes to be in Fort Lauderdale for the launch, according to The Post.

Bodzianowski's paper, titled "What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?" holds greater aspirations than to simply satisfy a whimsical question. He believes beer could be an important factor in future space colonies "as an emergency backup hydration and medical source," reported The Denver Post.

Beer's less popular uses inspired Bodzianowski's report. After reading about its role in the Middle Ages, Bodzianowski saw beyond the substance's social implications and went straight to the science, according to The Post.

"It was a punishment for crimes, that you couldn't drink beer," he said, "and most people didn't survive (that) because the water was contaminated."

Bodzianowski's triumph was made possible by his school, which raised the $20,000 necessary to fund the launch, and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, which began the contest as a way to get kids and teenagers interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) careers, according to The Post. Interest in such careers is down at the same time the Department of Labor projects a 17 percent increase in STEM jobs by the year 2018, reported The Denver Post.

"To compete in the 21st century marketplace, we need the next generation of scientists and engineers in the pipeline now," said Jeff Goldstein, director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. "Engineers who will enter the job market in 10 years are currently in fifth grade."