Latest NASA Supply Ship to Space Includes Newly-Hatched Squid

The U.S. space agency NASA said cargo on the latest supply ship headed for the International Space Station (ISS) includes newly hatched squid to be used in experiments examining the effects of space flight on microorganisms.

NASA said the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft that blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday - along with the squid, is carrying more than 3,300 kilograms of science experiments, new solar arrays, and other cargo. The hatchlings are bobtail squid and they are part of a project called Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI), which examines the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts.   Gravity’s role in shaping those interactions is not well understood and microgravity provides the opportunity to improve that understanding.