SpaceX launches tiny critters, solar panels to space station

SpaceX has launched a fresh load of supplies to the International Space Station, including thousands of tiny sea creatures and powerful solar panels

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX launched thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station on Thursday, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels. The 7,300-pound (3,300-kilogram) shipment — which also includes fresh lemons, onions, avocados and cherry tomatoes for the station’s seven astronauts — should arrive Saturday. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted into the hazy afternoon sky from Kennedy Space Center. The first-stage booster was new for a change, landing on an offshore platform several minutes after liftoff so it can be recycled for a NASA astronaut flight this fall. The Dragon cargo capsule — also brand new — is delivering the first of three sets of high-tech solar panels designed to bolster the space station’s aging 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.