SpaceX Sends Baby Bobtail Squid And Water Bears To International Space Station

While Elon Musk keeps promising to propel Dogecoin (CRYPTO:$DOGE) to the moon, the SpaceX division of his Tesla Inc TSLA is sending a delivery of 5,000 tardigrades, also known as water bears, and 128 baby bobtail squid to the International Space Station.

What Happened: According to a CNN report, the shipment is being launched Thursday afternoon for arrival on Saturday. This will mark the 22nd cargo resupply mission for the space station.

The microbial creatures will be the focus of experiments to determine how water bears tolerate the zero-gravity environment of space and how lack of gravity impacts the symbiotic relationships between squid and beneficial microbes.

The scientists conducting these experiments hope to use their results to gain a stronger understanding of the stressors humans will face in prolonged space travel.

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What Else Happened: In addition to the tiny experiment subjects, the cargo shipment will carry more than 7,300 pounds of fresh supplies plus scientific research experiments and technology demonstrations. The shipment also includes a pair of new roll-out solar arrays that will be installed during upcoming spacewalks.

Separately, SpaceNews.com announced that Axiom Space Inc. signed a contract with SpaceX for three additional Crew Dragon missions, which would meet its projections for private astronaut missions to the International Space Station through 2023. The new contract covers the projected Ax-2, 3 and 4 missions to the station, and all flights will use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft launched on Falcon 9 rockets.

(Photo of tardigrade, also known as a water bear, by Roberto Guidetti / Wikimedia Commons.)