Gearing Up for Life Science on the ISS

Hi! A lot has been going on since the last time I have written. I have been busy helping to ready seven different experiments to fly on the International Space Station (ISS). I am also working a few things for the future SpaceHab mission, STS-107, which is currently scheduled for January 2001.

I have been working with Dr. Gilles Clement -- a French PI or principal investigator -- for a while on his OVAR experiment. OVAR stands for off-axis vertical axis rotation, and is concerned with the movements of the eye and motion perception. {You can read more about this in my last journal.} We have had to make some changes concerning his experiment.

We have been discovering over the last year that the resources available to us on Space Station -- time available to train the crew pre-flight, available stowage and up mast capabilities, available freezer space on orbit to store collected samples, time available for post-flight crew testing -- is very limited compared to what we are used to on Shuttle. The long-duration flights will need to be handled different from shorter shuttle flights. The astronauts are tested pre-flight, during flight, then post-flight to see how long it takes to return to pre-flight condition. After longer duration station flights, the crew will not really be in the physical shape to do all the routine things they do after a shuttle flight.

These post-flight activity changes have affected Dr. Clement's experiment. A lot was learned from the crews who returned after long stays on the Russian Mir Space Station. We know that the astronauts are not really in good physical shape because of the stress of the flight on their bodies. Their muscles are weak, and they may have balance problems along with low stamina. Because of this, the medical operations folks are putting restrictions on the crews' workdays post-flight. They are limited to six hours a day with two of those dedicated to rehabilitation. This is a good thing, but it limits the researchers to the time they get to spend with the crew gathering data and samples. The first few days post-flight are really difficult. This is one of our challenges -- to find a way to do meaningful human life science with such restrictions and limitations. This has prompted a change, and now Dr. Clement's experiment has been moved to a shuttle flight.

I mentioned Dr. Tesch's experiment in my last journal, but I am no longer working that one. I was assigned a couple of new experiments, so Dr. Tesch's muscle research was assigned to the person working another of Tesch's experiments.

I was already working an experiment with Dr. Smith, and I was assigned a second experiment of his. His experiments concern calcium kinetics during spaceflight and an iron metabolism study.

I am also working on five other experiments for Station, but we will talk about those another time.

STS-107 will be a 16-day, non-Station science mission. This will be a SpaceHab mission, like STS-95 was. SpaceHab is a private company that has a contract with NASA to do life science missions and to manage these missions. Several life science experiments will go up on that flight.

One of my STS-107 projects is a team of experiments -- four different studies using many of the same specimen collections like blood, urine, saliva, etc. All four share similar in-flight operations and use the same equipment, so we decided to integrate them all into one shared project. They have been named collectively, the Physiology and Biochemistry Experiment Team -- or the PHAB 4, for short. The experiments concern protein turnover, viral reactivation study, calcium kinetics during spaceflight, and a renal (kidney) stones counter-measure study. I have spent quite a bit of time the last few months working on the PHAB 4. We have been very busy working up all the documentation for this SpaceHab flight. We are going to have some fun with this PHAB 4 thing, and we all get Beatles T-shirts. Although we are very serious here, we like to have a little fun, too.

STS-107 will be the first flight for SpaceHab's new Double Science Module, which makes it unique. This double module is the size of two modules together and is configured to handle more science projects. You can read more about SpaceHab at their site.

I have also been working on the landscaping at my house. It takes a lot of research and planning to make sure the landscaping is nice year-round. I enjoy working around my house and in my yard. I hope you all had a nice holiday.