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The rise and fall of Kraft, the pioneer of processed cheese
This kind of uncrewed cargo mission typically heads to the space station every couple months to drop off food and supplies for the astronauts on board. The missions also deliver materials for
science experiments. SpaceX has been conducing these resupply voyages since 2012 - this was the company's 22nd such launch. The Dragon capsule is expected to dock to the ISS at 5 a.m. on Saturday.
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Tardigrades are ripe for study in space because they are among the hardiest critters in the animal kingdom. The tiny creatures - they're less than one-tenth of a inch long - have been launched off the planet three times before, and have shown that they can even reproduce in the vacuum of space. Other research has found that tardigrades can survive in an Antarctic lake nearly a mile underground, and that they can return to normal functioning after being frozen for three decades.