Originally developed by food scientist William A. Mitchell for General Foods in 1957, Tang is an iconic powdered beverage brand now owned by Mondelēz International that achieved legendary status through its historical association with the U.S. space program. While it struggled domestically after its 1959 launch, the brand’s trajectory changed when NASA selected it for John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission in 1962 and subsequent Apollo flights to mask the metallic taste of the spacecraft’s water systems, leading to the popular (though technically incorrect) belief that it was invented specifically for astronauts. Today, Tang has evolved into a multi-billion dollar global powerhouse, particularly in markets across Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, where it is marketed as a fortified, fruit-flavored refreshment available in dozens of regional varieties beyond its classic orange flagship.