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It is forever associated with exploring strange new worlds but the iconic Start Trek uniform has never been worn in space - until now.

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took the iconic costume where it had never gone before when she wore it on the International Space Station last Friday.

She donned the garb, sported by the crew on Star Trek Voyager, to celebrate the arrival of the cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft to the space station.

Ms Cristoforetti revealed her unique attire in a tweet. "'There’s coffee in that nebula”… ehm, I mean… in that #Dragon," she wrote.

She was referring to was SpaceX’s vehicle, which launched from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday 14 April, arriving at the station three days later.

It was berthed onto the station by Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of Nasa, and Ms Cristoforetti who captured it while the ISS was over the Pacific Ocean, just east of Japan.

Spacecraft like Dragon are used to keep the ISS stocked with supplies, but this mission carried with it a treat for the astronauts - a coffee machine called the ISSPresso.

Italian coffee giant Lavazza joined forces with the Turin-based engineering company Argotec and the Italian Space Agency to provide a specially designed machine for use off the planet.

It is the first coffee machine able to work in micro gravity on the ISS, where the principles that regulate the fluid dynamics of liquids and mixtures are very different from those typical on Earth.

It uses a 'capsule system' to fill plastic pouches with espresso and other hot drinks such as tea. The machine can also be used to rehydrate food.

Speaking after snaring the Dragon, Ms Cristoforetti said: ‘It's been just amazing.’

‘Lots of science and even coffee's in there, so that's pretty exciting.’

Within two and half hours of its capture, the Dragon was bolted securely to the space station.

This is the California-based SpaceX company's seventh station supply run since 2012.

Aside from the coffee machine, the SpaceX Dragon supply ship carried 1814kg of food, science research and other equipment.

The Dragon will remain at the orbiting lab until around 21 May, when it will be released full of experiments and discarded equipment for return to Earth.