NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission with agency astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth after a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station.
During their stay, Cardman, Fincke, and Yui contributed more than 850 hours of research to help prepare humanity for the return to the Moon and future missions to Mars, while improving life back on Earth.
Here's a glimpse into the science completed during the Crew-11 mission:
Bolstering bone resilience
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman works with bone stem cells aboard the International Space Station to improve our understanding of how bone loss occurs during spaceflight. Studying bone cell activity in microgravity could help researchers learn how to control bone loss to protect astronauts' bone density during future long-duration space missions and inform treatments for diseases like osteoporosis on Earth.
