S C I E N C E I N S PA A A A A A C E D R . A B B I E S T E V E N S M S U S C I F E S T, M AY 2 0 2 0

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) Image credit: V. Patsayev

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) • Skylab (1973-1979) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew Image credit: NASA, Skylab-4 crew

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) • Skylab (1973-1979) • Mir (1986-2001) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-89 crew Image credit: NASA, Skylab-4 crew

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) • Skylab (1973-1979) • Mir (1986-2001) • International Space Station (1998-now) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-89 crew Image credit: NASA, Skylab-4 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-132 crew

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) • Skylab (1973-1979) • Mir (1986-2001) • International Space Station (1998-now) • Tiangong-1 (2011-2018) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-89 crew Image credit: NASA, Skylab-4 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-132 crew Image credit: unknown

Image from NASA • First crewed orbital space station: Salyut 1 (1971) • Salyut missions 3*, 4, 5, 6 ,7 (1971-1986) • Skylab (1973-1979) • Mir (1986-2001) • International Space Station (1998-now) • Tiangong-1 (2011-2018) • Tiangong-2 (2016-now) Image credit: V. Patsayev Image credit: Soyuz T-13 crew Image credit: NASA, Skylab-4 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-89 crew Image credit: NASA, STS-132 crew Image credit: unknown Image credit: CASTC

Low Earth Orbit 250 miles up Image from Wikimedia Commons, Cmglee & Geo Swan

Low Earth Orbit 250 miles up Image from Google Maps, annotated by yours truly 250 miles

Microgravity (not “zero gravity”) Weightless, but not floating — constant freefall! The astronaut, space ship, and carrot are all falling together at the same speed. Image from NASA

A S B I G A S A F O O T B A L L F I E L D Image from NASA

Astronomy, physics, atmospheric and space science, technology, biology, chemistry, medicine, psychology Image from NASA

Astronomy, physics, atmospheric and space science, technology, biology, chemistry, medicine, psychology 212 experiments RIGHT NOW IN SPACE Image from NASA

• Blood pressure, heart rate • Radiation exposure (it goes up, but trying out new radiation-blocking vests!) • Bone density (it goes down) • Brain fluid (it moves around) • Eyeball fluid (moves around, weird effects on optic nerve and eyeball shape; vision impairment?) • Hearing (gets worse?) • Circadian rhythms with ~16 sunrises/sets every 24 hours • Muscles 💪 M E D I C I N E

Astronaut Karen Nyberg M E D I C I N E Video from YouTube/NASA Johnson

P H Y S I C S & C H E M I S T RY • Fluid dynamics (how liquids move) • What temperature does water boil at? What about other liquids? • Growing crystal structures • Burning things • Gecko-inspired robot adhesive • Can robots ‘hop’ or ‘flip’ from one point to another on ISS? Image from NASA-GRC Image by J. Schulman

P H Y S I C S & C H E M I S T RY Astronaut Scott Kelly Video from YouTube/NASA Johnson

A S T R O N O M Y • Cosmic ray telescopes (seeing exploding stars!) • Cosmic ray detectors looking for evidence of invisible “dark matter” (about 20% of mass in the universe!) • X-ray telescopes that observe neutron stars and black holes (and other stuff) • Using pulsars to navigate like solar-system-wide GPS • Testing fancy binoculars to fly on very little satellites (CubeSats) Image from NASA-GSFC NICER

Video from YouTube/NASA Video A S T R O N O M Y

• Salmonella is more robust when grown in space? • Growing plants and bacteria (grapevine stems, thale cress, e. coli, cotton) • Growing tasty plants for food (radishes, cabbage, lettuce, pak choi, mustard greens) • Why do herbs grown in space smell and taste differently? B I O L O G Y Astronaut Peggy Whitson Image from NASA

AT M O S P H E R I C & S PA C E S C I E N C E • Aurorae observations • Upper-atmosphere lightning storms! • How do space dust grains grow in size? • Monitoring clouds, aerosols, pollutants, hazes, gas concentrations, storms, temperature, etc. Image from NASA-JSC

AT M O S P H E R I C & S PA C E S C I E N C E Recorded by Astronaut Paolo Nespoli Video from YouTube/ESA

F U RT H E R R E A D I N G • “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” - Chris Hadfield • “Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery” - Scott Kelly • “Chasing Space” - Leland Melvin • “Packing for Mars” - Mary Roach • “Dark Side of the Earth (4/26/18)” - Radiolab (podcast) • YouTube: NASA Johnson, Canadian Space Agency, ESA