Kids-show slime to be hauled by Spacex

ORLANDO, Fla. — Spacex’s 18th run to the International Space Station, planned for Sunday, will be packed with dozens of critical experiments — science that will look to answer big-picture questions about nerve cells, healing and tissue regeneration.

Oh, yeah, and Nickelodeon slime is going to space, too.

The upcoming resupply mission by Elon Musk’s rocket company will feature a payload that truly runs the gamut. Apart from the slime and crucial science, it also includes 40 student experiments, another one from Adidas on how soccer balls behave in space, and one from Akron-based Goodyear to study better ways of producing tires.

The Spacex capsule is to arrive at the space station Tuesday for a monthlong stay carrying hundreds of pounds of cargo, including 250 science and research investigations.

Children’s network Nickelodeon is sending its iconic green slime to the ISS for science demonstrations to teach students of elementary- and middle-school age about the principles of fluid flowing in a microgravity environment as compared with normal gravity on Earth. The videos will be shared online and on the network.

Adidas will study the spinning behavior of a soccer ball in microgravity, data that will be used to help the sports company study aerodynamics in a way it can’t on Earth. Soccer balls are tested on Earth using wind-tunnel experiments.

Goodyear will look at novel formations of silica — a key material used to produce tires — that form in microgravity. The goal is to find a new structure of silica that could produce more fuel-efficient tires.