SpaceX launches beer malt, caring robot and ‘mighty mice’

X launched a 3-ton shipment to International Station on Thursday, including “mighty mice” for a muscle study, a robot sensitive to astronauts’ emotions and a miniature version of a brewery’s malthouse. Dragon capsule also is delivering holiday goodies for six station residents. NASA’s Kenny Todd isn’t giving any hints, but said, “Santa’s sleigh, I think, is certified for vacuum of .”

recycled capsule should arrive Sunday. Falcon rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral a day late because of high winds. X recovered new booster on a barge just off coast in Atlantic several minutes following liftoff so it could be reused. X employees in Sourn California cheered when booster landed, and again a few minutes later when capsule reached orbit.

This is X’s 19th supply run for NASA. Forty mice are aboard, including eight “mighty mice” with twice muscle mass of ordinary mice, according to experiment’s chief scientist, Dr. Se-Jin Lee of Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Connecticut. Researchers plan to bulk up some of n-mighty mice during or after ir month-long flight in an attempt to build up muscle and bone. This rapy could one day help astronauts stay fit on lengthy trips, said Lee and Dr. Emily Germain-Lee of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Before and after liftoff, couple sang part of me song to mid-20th-century superhero TV cartoon “Mighty Mouse”′ and even h ors joining in at launch site. Germain-Lee was too emotional to sing right at liftoff. “I was sobbing so hard that I couldn’t even get my breath,” she told Associated Press.

In dition, re are barley grains aboard Dragon for a beer-malting experiment by Anheuser-Busch. It’s third in a series of Budweiser experiments to look at how barley germination is affected by weightlessness. shipment also includes a large, plastic 3-D printed robot he with artificial intelligence, according to its German creators. It’s named Cimon, prounced Simon, same as proto that flew up last year. This upgred version is designed to show empathy to its human colleagues in orbit.

Cimon will spend up to three years at station, three times longer than its recently returned predecessor. goal, said IBM’s Matthias Biniok, is to provide astronauts with constantly updated robotic helpers, especially at moon and Mars. station currently is home to three Americans, two Russians and one Italian. Russia plans to launch its own cargo ship to outpost on Friday.