SpaceX delivers strange cargo including live squids to International Space Station

A cargo of supplies for the orbiting lab will be used in experiments on the sustainability of human life in space

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon 2 spacecraft lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, US, to resupply the International Space Station, on Thursday. AP Photo

SpaceX delivered a 3,300-kilogram cargo of food, equipment for experiments and live squid to the International Space Station on Saturday.

Included in the delivery was a toothpaste for experiments and powerful solar panels.

Also in the shipment are fresh lemons, onions, avocados and cherry tomatoes for the station's seven astronauts.

In addition, the new Dragon cargo capsule delivered the first of three sets of high-tech solar panels designed to bolster the space station's ageing 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.

More power will be needed to accommodate the growing number of ticket-buying visitors, Nasa’s space station programme manager, Joel Montalbano, said on Wednesday.

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.

"There's no guarantee that the Earth methods will work in zero gravity," researcher Jeffrey Ebersole of the University of Nevada Las Vegas said.

The crew of the orbiting lab will be joined by 20,000 tardigrades – better known as water bears – and 128 bobtail squid, as well as chili pepper plants and cotton seedlings.

Tardigrades can survive in drastic environments on Earth and even in the vacuum of space. Launched frozen, these micro-animals will be thawed and revived aboard the space station.

By identifying the genes behind their 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.

Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson helps Nasa astronauts Nicole Mann (L) and Mike Fincke (R) train for a spacewalk inside the International Space Station Airlock Mockup at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston in February 2019. Nasa/Boeing via AP

Acting Nasa administrator Steve Jurczyk (L) and Rick Gilbrech, director of Nasa's Stennis Space Center watch a second test of the core stage of a Boeing-built rocket for Artemis missions that aim to return US astronauts to the moon by 2024, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, March 18, 2021. Nasa/Reuters

The second hot fire test of the core stage of a Boeing-built rocket for Artemis missions, that aim to return US astronauts to the moon by 2024, is seen at Nasa’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, March 18, 2021. Nasa/Reuters

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft failed to meet its destined orbit following its successful launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida in December 2019. Nasa

Former Atlantis shuttle commander Chris Ferguson models Boeing's new spacesuit for its Starliner. Courtesy Boeing

A guest visits the Boeing CST-100 capsule craft that accompanied former US navy pilot and astronaut Capt Chris Ferguson to Mubarak bin Mohammed School in Abu Dhabi. Silvia Razgova / The National

SpaceX's first super heavy-lift Starship SN8 rocket explodes during a return-landing attempt after it launched from their facility on a test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, December 9, 2020. Reuters

SpaceX founder Elon Musk (L), introduces Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the first private passenger on a trip around the moon, in September 2018. AP

A SpaceX rocket lifts off. SpaceX/AFP

A remodelled version of the Space X rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral. Reuters

This undated image made available by Elon Musk shows a new spacesuit from his company SpaceX. SpaceX via AP

This is SpaceX’s 22nd station supply run for Nasa.

The space agency turned to private companies to transport cargo and – recently – astronauts, following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet a decade ago.

Russia's Roscosmos space agency has also sent astronauts to the space station.