Biomedical Experiments on Space Station
| published August 6, 2015 |
By Keith H. Roberts Thursday Review contributor
Ahead of next week’s space walks, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are busy this week with a variety of scientific and medical experiments. Among the projects: growing vegetables and fruit in space, particularly a green-leaf lettuce project intended to determine how well green veggies will grow in space during long voyages; and test to determine precision skills and motor skills after weeks or months in the weightless environment. The crew of the International Space Station is also taking part in intensive studies of the effects of weightlessness on the human body. Such data will be necessary for NASA and other space agencies within the next decade in preparation for long-duration voyages to Mars and beyond.
Next week’s spacewalks have numerous objectives, not the least of which is the replacement and upgrade of several external pieces of equipment, and a thorough external inspection of the Russian components of the ISS. Additional crew members will be launched in a few weeks from the Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan to join the existing crew already in space.
This photography shows American astronaut Kjell Lindgren floating prone and weightless in the ISS lab module.
Related Thursday Review articles:
Space Station: A Close Call With Space Junk; Thursday Review staff; Thursday Review; July 17, 2015.
New Horizons Phones Home; Keith H. Roberts; Thursday Review; July 15, 2015.