NASA had to delay a SpaceX launch because of moldy mouse food

Rodents may have never stopped a New York City subway, but they did delay a much bigger journey slated for Tuesday.

On Monday, NASA was loading up a SpaceX mission to resupply the International Space Station when it says it found a Houston-level problem: The bars being packed to feed the station's mice were moldy. That led NASA to officially move the space station's delivery to Wednesday afternoon.

NASA is usually a pretty reliable delivery service, reserving delays for weather or technical issues, or because the thing set to be launched isn't even built yet. But in this case, a "rodent investigation" happening on the space station really needed a mouse chow refill, NASA said, and the 5,600-pound resupply mission simply couldn't ship without it. Luckily, the station's mice can expect their takeout in a cool two days.

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SpaceX founder Elon Musk has not yet found a way to prevent mouse food mold, but he probably will. Watch the 1:16 p.m. launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral here.