Friday research program aboard the International Space Station included exploring how microgravity affects skin cells and the genetics of cotton. the Expedition 66 the crew is also learning how to exercise more effectively in weightless conditions.
Living in space has been shown to speed up the rate of skin aging and a new study delivered aboard the Cygnus space freighter seeks to understand why and protect the health of astronauts. NASA astronaut Tom Marsburn began the experiment on Tuesday and has been reviewing samples of skin tissue that will grow inside the life sciences glove box. The samples will later be stored in a science freezer and analyzed on Earth to assess cellular and molecular changes that take place in microgravity.
Weightlessness also affects the way plants grow and flight engineers kayla barron from NASA and Matthias Maurer ESA (European Space Agency) spent Friday morning exploring gene expression in cotton crops. The duo worked with samples of cotton cells grown in the plant habitat to learn more about the plant regeneration process that possibly improves crop production on Earth.
Exercise is very important in space, as the microgravity environment can cause muscle and bone loss. Two exercise studies in the orbiting laboratory are investigating different ways to maximize the effectiveness of exercising in microgravity. Maurer started his day pedaling on a stationary bike wearing the Easy Motion body suit that stimulates the muscles. The specialized suit can enhance and decrease the duration of exercise sessions in space. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov attached sensors to himself and worked on the Zvezda service moduletreadmill for a Russian exercise studio. That research looks at how a crew member exercising it expends energy and other physiological factors to help keep crews fit and healthy on long-duration spaceflight.
NASA flight engineer Raja Chari I worked all Friday fixing component problems on the COLBERT treadmill Located in the calm module. NASA astronaut brand vande hei performed orbital plumbing duties and took photos for the ongoing course SQuARE archaeological project.
At the end of the day, the six flight engineers joined Commander Anton Shkaplerov and practiced an emergency drill. The seven-member crew located the station’s security team, moved along escape routes and coordinated communications with mission controllers for unlikely events such as an ammonia leak, depressurization or fire.
Learn more about the station’s activities by following the space station blog, @Spacial station and @ISS_Investigation on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram beads
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