Last
week, I discussed the history of NASA, from 1958-2009. Today I’m going to tell you all about
some of the missions that are going on AS WE SPEAK! Isn’t that cool.
There are people orbiting the Earth, flying around the planet at 17,150
miles per hour. Add that to the
fact that the Earth is flying around the sun at about 66,000 miles per hour and
you start to become a bit afraid that the astronauts may just fly off into a
black hole or something. Don’t
worry… they won’t.
Right
now, in the International Space Station (ISS), NASA has two missions that are
taking place. Expedition 43 is
composed of astronauts from the USA, Russia and Italy. Additionally, of those astronauts, two
men are a part of the “Year in Space” mission. These two men will remain in space for a full year, in order
to complete additional research.
The
astronauts aboard the ISS are Commander Terry Virts (USA- NASA), Anton
Shkaplerov (Russia-Roscosmos), Samantha Cristoforetti (Europe/Italy- ESA),
Scott Kelly (USA- NASA), Mikhail Kornienko (Russia-Roscosmos), and Gennady Padalka
(Russia-Roscosmos). Some of
these Astronauts launched in late March, but three of them have already been
aboard the ISS for 185 days.
That’s more than half a year!
Life
in space isn’t all fun and games.
The astronauts are conducting many types of research, all at the same
time. There isn’t enough time to
discuss all of the projects going on in the ISS, but this link will take you to
a list of current and past research done. Missions
iRAT
A woman walks on a vertical treadmill on Earth, to
simulate exercise in the ISS
One of the projects that are going on in space and on Earth
is the iRAT/Sprint study. NASA’s Integrated
Resistance and Aerobic Training study (iRAT) evaluates the effectiveness of
certain types of exercise.
In space, you don’t have gravity holding you down, so your muscles don’t
have to work as hard to keep you upright.
Because of this, Astronauts’ bones and muscles weaken quickly. They have to exercise for several
hours a day, just to make sure that their body will be ready to return to
Earth. (Learn about it here)
In
order to learn more about this, NASA is changing the way that the astronauts
exercise and simulating the same type of exercise here on Earth. Their experiment is designed to
discover if it is more effective to exercise vigorously for less time or to take
part in light exercise for a longer time.
In order to do this, they are simulating microgravity on Earth and
changing up the Astronauts’ routines.
(Read more about this experiment here
)
Roundworms
NASA is also studying the effects of space on
roundworms. Their typical life
cycle lasts 2 months. Scientists
are trying to find out if living in space can lengthen or shorten their
lives. These worms are
observed every day. When they
eventually die, they will be frozen and brought back to Earth for further study.
(Read more about this experiment here)
Earth KAM
This is an
image of Chile under clouds, taken by the Earth KAM in January of 2015.
NASA also partners with school-aged students to
inspire learning. One way that
they are currently doing this is by using the Sally Ride Earth KAM (Knowledge
Acquired by Middle School Students).
Students from all over the world are able to request or program
locations into a camera on the International Space Station. The camera then takes a photo of that
location and transmits it back to students on Earth.
Year in Space-
Twins
Scott Kelly
(right) will spend a year in space, while his brother Mark (left) will stay on
Earth.
Another
fascinating experiment is the “Year in Space” mission. Astronaut Scott Kelly will be living
for a year in space. His identical
twin brother, Mark (who is also an astronaut), will be living on Earth during
that time. Throughout the year,
and when Scott returns, NASA will monitor the changes in his physical,
behavioral, microbiological (organisms in your guts- EW!) and molecular (your
cells) health.
Scott
has been in space since March of 2015 and has plans to come home with
Expedition 46 in 2016. Along with
Astronaut Kelly, a Russian cosmonaut named Mikhail Kornienko is also spending a
year in the ISS. They have already
been in space for 61 days! (You can
learn more about the Twins study here)
Who
knew that all of this awesomeness was flying through space!?!? Even though it’s serious scientific
work, the Astronauts do manage to have lots of fun. I leave you with a video playlist showing Astronauts testing
out common Earth toys in space. It’s
cool to see the effects (or lack thereof) that microgravity has on these
familiar objects. T-minus 13 days
to Space Camp!
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