NASA to Provide Live Coverage of Crew-8 Return, Splashdown

Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission from right to left, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist; participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. SpaceX NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 7:05 a.m. EDT Sunday, Oct. 13, for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to undock from the International Space Station. Pending weather conditions, the earliest splashdown time is targeted for 3:38 p.m. Monday,…

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Tissue Chips Accurately Model Organs in Space

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir conducts cardiac research using tissue chip platforms in the Life Sciences Glovebox aboard space station in March of 2022. NASA The International Space Station offers a unique microgravity environment where cells outside the human body behave similarly to how they do inside the human body. Tissue chips are small devices containing living cells that mimic complex functions of specific human tissues and organs. Researchers can run experiments using tissue chips aboard space station to understand disease progression and provide faster and safer alternatives for preparing medicine…

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Station Science Top News: Oct. 4, 2024

Engineered heart tissues in space showed impairments that led to increased arrhythmias and loss of muscle strength, changes similar to cardiac aging. This finding suggests that the engineered tissues, essentially an automated heart-on-a-chip platform, can be used to study cardiac issues in space and aging-related cardiovascular disease on Earth. Microgravity exposure is known to cause changes in cardiovascular function similar to those seen with aging on Earth. Engineered Heart Tissues assessed these changes using 3D cultured cardiac muscle tissue. The 3D cultures, grown with special scaffolds and derived from human cells, are better at…

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NASA Invites Media to SpaceX’s 31st Resupply Launch to Space Station

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaching the International Space Station Credits: NASA Media accreditation is open for the next launch to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This launch is the 31st SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for the agency and will lift off on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Wednesday, Oct. 30, to launch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credentialing to cover…

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How NASA Astronauts Vote from Space Aboard International Space Station 

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The American flag inside the cupola of the International Space Station (Credits: NASA). Credit: NASA NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station have the opportunity to vote in general elections through absentee ballots or early voting in coordination with the county clerk’s office where they live.   So, how is voting from space possible? Through NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program.  Similar to most data transmitted between the space station and the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space…

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Concludes Space Station Scientific Mission

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are returning to Earth after months aboard the International Space Station conducting scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission. The four launched on March 3 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here’s a look at some scientific milestones accomplished during their mission: Revealing resistant microorganisms NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps extracts DNA for the Genomic Enumeration…

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NASA Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson to Discuss Science, Station Mission

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson works on a computer inside the International Space Station. Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson will share details of her recent six-month mission aboard the International Space Station in a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 4, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Media interested in participating in person must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no…

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Station Science Top News: Sept. 27, 2024

Researchers found that long-duration spaceflight affected the mechanical properties of eye tissues, including reducing the stiffness of tissue around the eyeball. A better understanding of these changes could help researchers prevent, diagnose, and treat the vision impairment often seen in crew members. SANSORI, a Canadian Space Agency investigation, examined whether reduced stiffness of eye tissue contributes to vision impairment in astronauts on long-term missions. This condition, known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome, or SANS, includes a range of physical changes to the eyes. This paper suggests that biomechanical changes in the eye…

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NASA Astronaut Nick Hague Boosts Human Health Research in Space

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 commander Nick Hague is pictured in his flight suit during training at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Hague will perform human health and performance research on the International Space Station as part of his mission. SpaceX NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will soon dock with the International Space Station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, a venture which will enhance scientific research and bolster the knowledge about how people can live and work in space. During the planned five-month mission, Hague’s…

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Liftoff! NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Launches to International Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission is the ninth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Hague and Gorbunov launched at 1:17 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40…

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