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The first operational commercial crew mission will not only bring astronauts to the International space station but also launch unique scientific experiments on which the crew can work.
The Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission for NASA is scheduled to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday evening (Saturday the 14th), and you can watch the coverage live on Space.com or on NASA TV. The crew members taking part in the six-month flight are NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
Some of the experiences that the Crew-1 astronauts will tackle microbe-eating rocks, testing of key parts for future spacesuits, and a student genetics project. A partial list of mission experiences can be found below.
Live Updates: SpaceX Astronaut Crew-1 launches for NASA
Food physiology: Floating for a few months can change a spaceship’s immune system. Food physiology The experiment will therefore examine how dietary changes in orbiting astronauts can alter or improve their immune function, as well as the “microbiome” (microbial makeup) of their guts. The general objective of the experiment is to improve the diet of spaceflight and the health of the crew. The study is ongoing and Crew-1 will be bringing resupply material into space for further work. During the Crew-1 mission, Glover must collect biological samples of his body as a participant in the experiment.
Genes in space 7: This student experience, by Finsam Samson and Yujie Wang at Troy High School in Troy, Michigan, was one of the winning selections of the Genes in Space competition for students in grades 7 to 12. The duo will study how brain function changes during spaceflight, with the goal of better helping astronauts perform their work on long-duration missions to the space station, the moon and other deep space destinations.
SERFE and space suits: NASA is already planning its next lunar space suit, called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU). Unlike the current NASA EMU used for space walks outside the orbiting laboratory, the new generation of spacesuits will use water evaporation to remove heat from an astronaut’s body. and maintain a safe temperature during spacewalks. A key component of this system is the Spacesuit water membrane evaporator, which is already on board the station and will be tested on simulated spacewalks during the Crew-1 mission via the flight experience. of space suit evaporation release. The investigation will conduct 25 simulated eight-hour spacewalks to see how the garment and technology works in space.
In photos: SpaceX Crew-1 Mission to the International Space Station
Plant habitat-02: The ISS is increasingly famous for its various orbiting gardens, and Crew-1 will add to previous research on lettuce, flowers and other plants. A recent commercial refueling mission to Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft delivered radish seeds to the station, and the astronauts will be growing them for the Plant habitat-02 experiment in the Advanced plant habitat. Future crews on long-term missions will use plants for part of their diet, and radishes will be especially useful due to their nutritional nature and ability to grow quickly. Radishes are also similar to Arabidopsis, a plant that has been studied several times in microgravity.
BioAsteroid: Space station astronauts will take a close look at microbes that can interact with rocks, as part of the BioAsteroid experience, which will embark on a SpaceX cargo mission on December 2. Potential future uses of this research could include creating life support systems using regolith (the dusty soil on the moon and small worlds), or breaking down rocks into soils for plants to use or extract minerals from rocks. The hope is to find more uses for materials on the Moon, Mars, or other destinations to help future crews build bases and ship fewer resources from Earth to save on transportation costs.
Fabric chips: This unique biology experiment places human cells on a 3D matrix the size of a thumb, creating a sort of small artificial organ that simulates the functions of organs. the Fabric shavings in space The experiment (which will also fly on the SpaceX cargo flight on December 2) will examine how human cells respond and adapt to drugs, stress, and genetic changes during space flights. Crew-1 astronauts will study cells in human lungs, bone marrow, muscles and other organs. A major question the researchers hope to address is how humans lose muscle mass in space after a few weeks or months in microgravity.
Cardinal Heart: Another organ affected by space flight is the heart, where the Cardinal heart The experiment, which will also be delivered next month, will arrive. Researchers will use (artificial) heart tissue mounted on tissue chips to better understand cardiovascular risk before space flight and to create strong countermeasures for heart disease. The research is expected to benefit not only flying astronauts, but also those on Earth at risk for heart disease.
Correction: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. EST to note that the SERFE spacesuit experiment is already on board the ISS awaiting Team Crew-1, and that the BioAsteroid, Tissue Chips and Cardinal experiments Heart will be launched to the crew on a separate cargo. ship in december.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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