SpaceX is heading back to the ISS on its 18th resupply mission for NASA.
This mission is packed with science experiments from bioprinting organs to researching the
effects of microgravity on the human body to soccer balls and even slime?
Yup, that’s right, Nickelodeon is studying slime in space, all these sent up with the
hopes of expanding our knowledge of life in microgravity.
As part of that goal, Expedition 60 crew member Andrew Morgan will be the latest NASA astronaut
to join the ISS crew.
It’ll be his first mission to space and he’s been given the rare opportunity to
stay on board for a much longer period than his peers.
Usually, astronauts stay onboard the ISS for about 6 months, but for Morgan he’ll be staying for nine
to conduct groundbreaking microgravity research on the human body that will continue where
Scott and Mark Kelly’s twin study left off.
Well certainly, I'm very interested in those experiments that have a medical bent to them because we want
to study and understand how the human body changes over long periods of time in microgravity.
And he won’t be alone in this mission, as fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch has been
selected to stay in space just shy of Scott’s 340-day record.
Over the duration of her stay, Koch will be the subject of a study that will demonstrate
the effects of long-term spaceflight on the female body for the very first time.
We’ll be diving into this in an upcoming episode so stay tuned.
In total, the ISS crew will be busy working on around 250 experiments including the first
U.S. bioprinter to be sent to the station by Techshot.
Their system is called the BioFabrication Facility or BFF, an experiment aiming to one
day print organ-like tissues in space.
Bioprinting soft tissues on Earth can be a challenge as tissues can collapse under their
own weight, so printing in microgravity becomes a huge advantage as it removes the need for
scaffolds that usually hold difficult structures.
The BFF works by printing the tissue cells inside cassettes, which are then placed into
an incubator system using Techshot’s ADvanced Space Experimenter Processor.
After up to 45 days of maturation, the tissue will retain its shape upon its return to Earth.
And they’re aiming for the stars to try to achieve something that’s never been done
before in the field of 3d bioprinting.
So that's the first thing that we're going to try to do is create something that has
a blood vessel component to it, muscularized tissue that's a centimeter thick.
These advances in 3D bioprinting present a huge opportunity for personalized medicine.
By using a patient’s own cells to print an organ, their bodies would have an easier
time accepting the new organ and would remove the need for anti-rejection drugs.
And seeing this project near usability is a dream come true for Eugene.
I still get goosebumps.
I mean, this was one of those crazy back room conversations that like, "Hey, you know,
wouldn't it be cool if ..." But this one, you know, right time, right place, right people,
right team, and all of a sudden, we're T-minus three weeks from watching a really big candle
get lit down in Florida.
Eugene isn’t the only researcher who’s got a lot riding on this mission.
The U.S. ISS National Lab is sending 25 scientific projects, an all-time high for a resupply
mission, of which 17 are private-sector projects sponsored by the lab.
Goodyear is sending materials in order to test the production of new silica forms and
structures in space that could help inform future evaluations of manufacturing tires
on the ground.
Adidas is including its soccer balls to study how a spherical, free-flying object rotates
in space that could help inform how free-flying objects interact with their environment.
And then there’s Nickelodeon, who’ll be filming how slime acts in microgravity in
an effort to teach its young viewers about the basics of fluid dynamics.
And there’s one pretty big element left on this mission.
Sitting in the trunk of the Dragon cargo is an International Docking Adapter or IDA.
Built by Boeing, the IDA-3 converts the older, APAS to the NASA docking system, allowing
newer spacecraft like the Starliner and Crew Dragon, to autonomously connect with the space
station for the first time, using lasers and sensors to digitally communicate distance
cues, alignment guides, and final connection.
The docking system has also been designed to welcome spacecraft yet to be designed from
any space agency in the world.
I think it will enhance our cooperation because we fully intend to continue to fly astronauts
and cosmonauts from different communities on either vehicle and also just another real
honor for us to be up there potentially when these vehicles visit for the first time.
And hopefully, that historic moment will come soon.
So while we wait for the arrival of SpaceX’s crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner, we can
look forward to the incredible science happening above in continuing to explore the endless
boundaries of space.
Are there any experiments that you’d like us to cover more in depth?
Tell us in the comments below.
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Thanks for watching.