Weird 'Passengers' on SpaceX's Dragon Delivery

WEIRD EXPERIMENTS FLY IN SPACE The NASA/SpaceX CRS-5 mission sends a Dragon space cargo capsule to the International Space Station. The craft is packed with 5,200 lbs. (2.360 kilograms) of supplies and instruments to support 256 scientific investigations. Along for the ride are some unusual passengers. FLIES & FLATWORMS! Flatworms (left) will be studied to see how microgravity affects their regenerative and wound-healing abilities. Fruit flies will provide information on how the immune system changes when in space. CATS! WITH LASERS! Well not really felines, but an experiment called CATS (Cloud-Aerosol Transport System). The instrument, attached to the exterior of ISS, uses lasers to measure the worldwide distribution of clouds and aerosol particles (haze, dust, air pollution and smoke). AIRCRAFT CONTRAILS VOLCANIC ASH CLOUDS AUTO EXHAUST SMOKE FACTORY EMISSIONS ABOVE: Clouds and aerosols play a role in cooling or warming Earth's climate, depending on their altitude and thickness. BELOW: A visualization of CATS laser-scanning the atmosphere, building up a map of altitudes and concentrations of particles in the air. The CATS mission lasts 6 months to 3 years. SOURCES: NASA, SPACEX, SHUTTERSTOCK KARL TATE /OSpace.com SPACE,