A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday, bound for the International Space Station. The Dragon was filled with more than 5,800 pounds of research material, cargo, supplies, and equipment for astronauts aboard the ISS.

Along with general supplies like food, the Dragon ship carried an extra special cargo. Sperm and bone marrow were just two of the hundreds of items that arrived at the ISS on Wednesday.

NASA sent the sperm as part of a project called Micro-11, which came out of the Ames Research Center in California. The goal is to gain insight into how flight and space travel can affect human reproduction. The researchers are not sure that the sperm is able to function normally enough in a zero-gravity environment to fertilize an egg in space.

To test this, frozen human and bull sperm samples were sent to the station, and the plan is for the onboard crew to thaw it before adding a chemical that can activate sperm movement, which occurs before the space sperm can fuse with an egg. While in space, the sperm will be monitored via video before the samples are preserved and sent back to Earth, where it will be determined whether or not the egg and sperm successfully fused, according to NASA.

A space debris remover called RemoveDEBRIS was also shipped in the Dragon. While astronauts are aboard the station doing their research, a satellite outside the station will work to develop new methods for catching space debris.

By late May or early June, astronauts are likely to launch the RemoveDEBRIS satellite from the ISS into space, . reported. As soon as the satellite is a safe distance from the ISS in space, it is scheduled to deploy its own small satellites that act as false space junk. The satellite will then use two techniques, net capture and harpoon capture, to trap debris in space and take it out of orbit and burn it in Earths atmosphere.

Sperm samples for the Micro-11 experiment arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where researchers prepared them for launch to the International Space Station. Credits: NASA

The names of the techniques are tremendously descriptive of how they work. The net capture uses a giant net to catch the debris and then take it out of orbit. The harpoon will not actually be tested with a satellite; for legal reasons its a little more risky than net catching so rather, the harpoon will be launched at a target that will extend from the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft.

All of this is programmed to be monitored with cameras and data transmissions. A video shows how the satellite and its capture methods are likely to work as soon as they are in space.

In addition to the satellite and sperm, many other exciting experiments and cargo arrived at the station on Wednesday. The more than 2,000 pounds of scientific research that was sent included a bone marrow experiment, the Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor to probe thunderstorms on Earth, and the Veggie PONDS experiment to study plant growth in space, all of them included in the load.

Excerpt from:
SpaceX launched sperm, a space junk receiver, and other things at the International Space Station - Explica