SpaceX launched a rocket capsule to the International Space Station carrying avocados, ants, shrimp, and a robotic arm
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Cheryl Teh
Aug 30, 2021, 21:03 IST
The SpaceX Dragon capsule is en-route to the International Space Station, carrying with it a re-supply payload of fresh food and material for experiments.
NASA/via AP
A SpaceX shipment blasted off to the International Space Station carrying 4,800 pounds of supplies.
The payload, set to arrive Monday, includes food like avocados and ice cream for the astronauts.
Ants, brine shrimp, and plants were also sent to the space station for use in experiments.
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Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a shipment to the stars on Sunday, blasting off to the International Space Station with a 4,800-pound payload.
The shipment, carried on a capsule called the Dragon, includes avocados, ice cream, ants, and a robotic arm. This is SpaceX's 23rd supply launch for NASA, according to The Associated Press.
Vande Hei, Novitskiy, and Dubrov have been in space for 143 days, while McArthur, Kimbrough, Pesquet, and Hoshide have been there for 129 days.
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Many of the materials SpaceX is transporting are for research. The Girl Scouts sent ants, brine shrimp, and seedlings for use in experiments at the space station.
One of the experiments is designed to look at how tomatoes and other plants grow in a weightless environment, while the astronauts will use the ants to study the tunneling behavior of insects in space. They'll study the brine shrimp to see whether a colony of crustaceans could eventually be grown in space to provide fresh protein for astronauts.
The astronauts are set to use the robotic arm, from the Japanese startup Gitai, for repairs and menial tasks, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. Gitai's chief technology officer, Toyotaka Kozuki, told the newspaper that future models might be able to move into space independently to repair satellites, build lunar bases, and mine resources from the moon's surface.
The Dragon capsule is set to dock at the space station on Monday.
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