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

A mouse eating. — (Image credit: iStock/tenra)

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.

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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.