SpaceXRocket due to reach the International Space Station this weekend is loaded with 7,300lb of fresh food and supplies for an orbiting lab
Guardian staff and agency
SpaceX has launched a supply mission bound for the International Space Station on Thursday, carrying with it thousands of tiny sea creatures along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels.
The 7,300lb (3,300kg) shipment which also includes fresh lemons, onions, avocados and cherry tomatoes for the stations seven astronauts should arrive Saturday.
SpaceXs Falcon rocket blasted into the hazy afternoon sky from Kennedy Space Center. The first-stage booster was new for a change, landing on an offshore platform several minutes after liftoff so it can be recycled for a Nasa astronaut flight this fall.
The Dragon cargo capsule also brand new is delivering the first of three sets of high-tech solar panels designed to bolster the space stations aging power grid.
Astronauts will conduct two spacewalks later this month to help install the two roll-out panels alongside solar wings that have been in continuous operation for 20 years.
Space race 2: Russian actor bound for ISS in same month as Tom Cruise
More power will be needed to accommodate the growing number of ticket-buying visitors, Nasas space station program manager, Joel Montalbano, said Wednesday. The actor Tom Cruise is among several high profile figures who have announced plans to visit the ISS, with ambitions to film in space.
The cargo includes samples of saliva and oral bacteria from dental patients that will be treated with toothpaste and mouthwash in an experiment aimed at keeping astronauts teeth and gums healthy in space.
Theres no guarantee that the Earth methods will work in zero gravity, researcher Jeffrey Ebersole of the University of Nevada Las Vegas said in a statement.
Also headed to the orbiting lab: 20,000 tardigrades, better known as water bears, and 128 bobtail squid, as well as chile pepper plants and cotton seedlings.
Tardigrades can survive in drastic environments on Earth and even in the vacuum of space. Launched frozen, these microscopic extremophiles will be thawed and revived aboard the space station. By identifying the genes behind the animals adaptability, scientists hope to better understand the stresses on the human body during long space stays.
The baby bobtail squid are part of a study investigating the relationship between beneficial bacteria and their animal hosts.
This is SpaceXs 22nd station supply run for Nasa. In April, the company delivered a crew of four astronauts to the ISS for a six-month mission. The space agency turned to private companies to transport cargo and astronauts following the shuttles retirement a decade ago.
SpaceX also recently saw its first successful launch and landing of its Starship rocket, which it hopes to use to travel to the moon and eventually send people to Mars. This followed a series of test flights that ended in fiery explosions.___
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