Instead of Monkey’s or even dogs, SpaceX sent some interesting organisms to the international space station.
Space X launched its 22nd cargo mission to today, have a look at this take off.
Tucked inside the Dragon cargo capsule are 5000 tardigrades, also known as water bears, and 128 baby glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid.
Immature bobtail squid (also known by their scientific name Euprymna scolopes) are aboard the mission as part of a NASA experiment dubbed “UMAMI,” which is short for “Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions.”
Dragon separation confirmed; autonomous docking to the @space_station Saturday at ~5:13 a.m. EDT pic.twitter.com/c5mF9P5fCl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 3, 2021
These creatures will be traveling to the orbital outpost to help researchers answer some key questions about spaceflight.
“Such knowledge could help identify ways to protect and enhance these relationships for better human health and well-being on Earth as well,”
NASA said in a statement.
Scientists say they can tolerate environments more extreme than most other animals, making them the perfect organisms to study under extreme conditions in space.
“Animals, including humans, rely on our microbes to maintain a healthy digestive and immune system,” UMAMI principal investigator Jamie Foster said in a statement.
“We do not fully understand how spaceflight alters these beneficial interactions,” Foster said.
“The UMAMI experiment uses a glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid to address these important issues in animal health.”
