NASA Highlights Science on 18th SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station

NASA astronaut Christina Koch checks out hardware for the Capillary Structures experiment. The investigation studies a new method of using structures of specific shapes to manage fluid and gas mixtures for more reliable life support systems on future space missions.

Credits: NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday, July 9, to discuss select science investigations launching on the next SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

SpaceX is targeting 7:35 p.m. Sunday, July 21, for the launch of its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket fromSpace Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Participants in the July 9 preview briefing will be:

• Bryan Dansberry, assistant program scientist for NASAs International Space Station Program Science Office, who will share an overview of the research being conducted aboard the space station and how it benefits exploration and humanity.
• Ken Shields, chief operating officer for the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, who will discuss the labs work in advancing science in space, and in developing partnerships that drive industrialization through microgravity research.
• Charles Cockell, professor of astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, who will discuss Biorock, an investigation that will provide insight into the physical interactions of liquid, rocks and microorganisms under microgravity conditions for potentially mining materials in space and could benefit long-duration spaceflight missions.
• Valentina Fossati and Andres Bratt-Leal, researchers from the New York Stem Foundation Research Institute, who will discuss the Space Tango Induced Stem Cells investigation, where cells from patients with Parkinsons disease and Multiple Sclerosis will be cultured on the space station to examine cell to cell interactions that occur in neurodegenerative disease.

• Tomomichi Fujita of Hokkaido University, who will discuss Space Moss, an investigation that grows mosses aboard the space station, and on Earth, to determine how microgravity affects their growth, development, gene expression, photosynthetic activity and other features.
• Craig Everroad, a scientist at NASAs Ames Research Center, who will discuss MVP Cell-02, an experiment that aims to understand the effects of the space environment on microbial evolutionary processes.