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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
What is Jeff Bezos' net worth?
In Depth The Amazon tycoon and the third richest person in the world made his fortune pioneering online retail
By David Faris Published
-
Health care is full of cognitive biases. Some think AI can help.
The Explainer Humans are fallible but technology can be, too
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Financial steps to take if you are laid off
The explainer Four moves to minimize your losses
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an egg
Speed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energy
Speed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blue Origin conducts 1st test flight of massive rocket
Speed Read The Jeff Bezos-founded space company conducted a mostly successful test flight of its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published