On November 26, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon resupply spacecraft, which connected to the International Space Station (ISS) and immediately began operations. The Expedition 68 team has already started unloading thousands of pounds of goods. Onboard Dragon are new botany, biology, and physics experiments, as well as additional equipment to increase the ISS's power generating system.
At 7:39 a.m., a private space freighter docked. Sunday, November 27 at 4:39 a.m. EST (4:39 a.m. PST). Soon later, he was joined by NASA flight engineers Nicole Mann and Frank Rubio, as well as Koichi Wakata from JAXA or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The rest of Sunday was devoted to the four astronauts offloading key research projects and research items for storage onboard the orbiting lab.
The remainder of Sunday was devoted to unloading key scientific experiments and research items for storage onboard the orbiting lab. New tests are being set up as the crew prepares to investigate the efficiency of skin as well as bone regeneration in space, as reported by the space agency.
Specimens in Space: Testing Healing Properties of the Orbit
Wakata began the day by storing recently received bone cell specimens in the Kubik incubator with skin samples there in the BioLab testing facility. The first research will look at how bone cells react to microgravity, while the other will look at how sewn-back wounds heal in zero gravity.
Mann and Rubio worked together on Monday to install cutting-edge biological technology and transfer research samples supplied by Dragon in station facilities.
The astronauts shall soon investigate how microgravity impacts skeletal stem cell regeneration, perhaps enhancing recovery from bone disorders on both Earth and in space.
Inside Dragon's unpressurized trunk portion, a pair of additional roll-out solar panels was also supplied. This week, robotic operators on the ground will instruct using the Canadarm2 robotic arm to retrieve the solar panels and connect them to attachment points on the station's truss framework.
NASA scientists Josh Cassada with Frank Rubio are scheduled to deploy the new solar panels on two spacewalks before the closure of the year. Before working on orbital plumbing jobs, Roscosmos Commander Sergey Prokopyev tried out a computer-controlled 3D printer today.
Growing Bones in Space Successfully
Based on the ISS National Laboratory, an experiment enabled by the ISS National Lab is investigating the capacity to regenerate bone and perhaps stop bone loss. During spaceflight, the musculoskeletal system undergoes dramatic alterations, involving bone density loss, bone frailty, and muscle weakness.
Chia Soo, a UCLA researcher, shares the information she and her collaborators expect to gain from microgravity research, as well as the success in recent years testing a novel medicine that assists in bone growth. Such medicines have the potential to assist millions of individuals worldwide suffering from illnesses like osteoporosis.
Recently, microgravity research in fighting cancer was released by the agency. Dr. Luis Zea of BioServe Space Technologies describes how the ISS's microgravity environment affects his study. He argues that cells were grown in space from three-dimensional groups that more accurately mirror what transpires in the human body.
His study demonstrates how the International Space Station's unique microgravity environment might help scientists pinpoint the molecular alterations that cause cancer, perhaps leading to novel therapies that improve patient's quality of life or developing preventative measures.
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