A look at the first NASA research on the ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique laboratory operating in low-Earth orbit. In the last 20 years, more than 3,000 investigations have been completed by researchers from 108 countries. In the early days of the ISS Assembly, research was done at a more modest level than it is today. No launch delay Zvezda By July 2000 the service module had slipped in order, including the advent of the ISS assembly sequence. Fate Laboratory module, U.S. at ISS. The foundation of research activities, the first research facility since February 2001, coming soon. To conduct research on the ISS as early as possible, mission managers began the first three by approving the use of limited resources on the STS-106 mission in September 2000. NASASponsored science experiments.

Left: In September 2000, the STS-106 crew appeared before the ISS. Right: Crew of STS-106, front left to right, Malenchenko, Wilkat and Alt Lutman; Later left to right, Burbank, Lou, Maastrachio and Morokov.

Space Shuttle Mission STS-106 On the morning of September 8, 2000, its departing Commander Terrence W. Wilkatt, pilot Scott d. Altman and Mission Specialist Edward T. Lu, Richard a. C. Burbank, Yuri i. Malenchenko, and Boris V. Morokov. The expedition was dedicated to redesigning and refining the ISS before the arrival of the first expedition crew and so there was little extra time or space for science payloads. To simplify the integration process, all three experiments selected had previous flight experience on the space shuttle mission, the crew needed some time, and made little use of the stove available on the ascent. One experiment would be in the shuttle midcake in the shuttle mission as the so-called sorty payload, the second was just for the cream member to move it to a quieter place on the ISS, and the third was passive storage, ready on the ISS. Operate once the Expedition 1 crew arrives.

Left: Morukov, running the CGB in the shuttle midcake. Medium: Willcat manages CBBA. Right: CGB Isothermal Control Module.

The Sorty payload consisted of the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), a single midcake locker-sized device that has flown several times on previous space shuttle flights. The CGBA, created by Bioserve Space Technologies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, provided automated processing for biological experiments, reducing crew interactions for activation, periodic health checks and inactivation. On the STS-106, the CGB has an isothermal containment module (ICM) to provide temperature control to two experiments inside the unit. An experiment in synaptogenesis in microgravity led by Principal Investigator (PI) Hague Kashishian Yale University Seven gas exchange-group activation packs (GE-GAP) used for home development and control in New Haven, Connecticut Drosophila melanogaster, Or the fruit flies. The ICM automatically controls the GE-GAP through the preset temperature profile during the mission. This experiment, previously performed on STS-93 in 1999, sought to better understand the development of the nervous system of fruit flies in microgravity. The second CGB experiment was conducted by PI Timothy G. of Durham Veterans Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Kidney cell gene expression, led by Hammond, used single generic bioprocessing apparatus (GBA) in ICM. The purpose of the experiment, previously flown on STS-90 in 1998, was to study how microorganisms affect the gene expression of proteins in cultured kidney cells. The CGB functioned normally throughout the flight, but unexpected temperature trips in two experiments made the interpretation of the results problematic.

Left: Students preparing samples for the PCG-EGN wall experiment. Medium: From the video of Lu transferring PCG-EGN to Zaria module. Right: PCG-EGN rocked the door.

The first passive science experiment placed on the ISS was the Protein Crystal Growth-Enhanced Gaseous Nitrogen (PCG-EGN) wall. Alexander McPherson of the University of California at Irvine was the PI for the experiment, who flew seven times during the shuttle-mirror program. One day before launch, flash-frozen samples of 21 different protein solutions were loaded into the capillary tubes, supplied by four investigators, into the wall, a large thermos bottle-like vacuum-jacketed container with an absorbent inner liner saturated with liquid nitrogen. Middle and high school students from Alabama, California, Florida and Tennessee helped load about 150 of the 500 samples. Dewar orbits the shuttle Midcake, and once the hatch near the ISS opens, Lou moves Dewar to a quiet place. Zarya Module. Over time, the liquid nitrogen boiled, the frozen samples melted, and the protein crystallized from the solution. Without the disturbing effect of gravity, investigators hoped to grow larger and purer crystals to give a more detailed understanding of their composition. Dewar returned to Earth in October 2000, after spending 46 days in space, on his next space shuttle mission to visit ISS, STS-92. The PCG-EGN wall experiment then flew four more times over the ISS.

Left: MACE-II experiment floating in Unity Node 1 module. Medium: Ekta Bharwad manages MACE-II during the campaign. Right: Helps to manage MACE-II during Campaign 2.

The third experiment, launched on STS-106, led by Middeck Active Control Experiment-2 (MACE-II), was conducted in the U.S. at Albuquerque, New Mexico. PI R. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. By Rory Ninnemann, with a collaborative team from the Massachusetts Institute. David W. Technology at Cambridge, Massachusetts under Miller. The experiment, previously flown as the Message-1 on the STS-67 in 1995, tried to demonstrate algorithms that could be used to reduce certain stresses, such as vibrations experienced during future satellites or during orbital maneuvers. The multi-body platform test article, MACE-II Hardware Design, which was tested, had four 1-inch-diameter struts connected to five nodes. During the operation, it was free-floating but loosely taut in the module. There were 20 different sensors across the platform that monitor the vibration. During STS-106, the MACE-II experiment, which started as passive storage in the SpaceHub module, was replaced by a crew. Unity Node 1 module to wait for the arrival of the Expedition 1 crew. The commander of that crew, William M. Shepherd operated the MACE-II near the end of his mission, and since he was unable to complete all the required sessions, the managers hired Susan J., the flight engineer for Expedition 2. Experiment. The Gust 2001 hardware returned to Earth aboard the STS-154.

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