SpaceX ships robotic arm, ants, ice cream among other things into space as experiment

SpaceX sent a shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm in space towards the International Space Station for NASA on Sunday (August 29). The shipment shall be delivered by Monday. This was SpaceX's 23rd shipment in a decade. 

The recycles Falcon took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at dawn. Post hoisting the Dragon capsule, the first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX’s newest ocean platform.

Elon Musk, SpaceX founder named the booster, "A Shortfall of Gravitas" continuing his tradition of naming the booster-recovery vessels in tribute to the late science fiction writer Iain Banks and his Culture series.

Supplies, experiments, and fresh food including avocados, lemons and even ice cream worth 4,800 pounds (2,170 kilograms) have been sent for the space station’s seven astronauts.

The ants are being sent up in space as a test subject by the Girl Scouts while University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are flying up seeds from mouse-ear cress, a small flowering weed used in genetic research. More things like concrete, solar cells, and other materials also will be subjected to weightlessness.

The robotic arm created by a Japanese start-up company will attempt to screw items together in its orbital debut as a part of the experiment. 

The rocket that flew on Sunday was a second attempt into space, the first was made on Saturday which was foiled by bad weather. Since the space shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA turned towards companies like SpaceX and other U.S companies to deliver cargo and crews to the space station.