For 20 years, Astronauts Live, Work Aboard Space Station
By Bob Granath
The SpaceX Crew-1 spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Nov. 16, 2020 with NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Their arrival continues work by astronauts from around the world who have continuously lived and worked aboard the orbiting laboratory for the past 20 years. Their efforts are advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies to prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Read more about the Crew-1 launch and mission
When hatches opened, the Crew-1 astronauts joined Kate Rubins of NASA, and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since Oct. 14, 2020. Together they became members of the station’s Expedition 64 mission, increasing the station’s crew from six on previous expeditions to seven. They now are spending time conducting scientific research in areas, such as botany, cancer research and technology development.
One experiment, called Plant Habitat-02, is the first time NASA has grown radishes aboard the space station. NASA wanted to raise nutritious and edible radishes since they are well understood by scientists and reach maturity in just 27 days.
On Nov. 30, 2020, Rubins harvested radish plants growing in the plant habitat aboard the International Space Station. She wrapped 20 radish plants in foil and placed them in cold storage for the return trip to Earth. Plans call for the results to be returned with other experiments in 2021 aboard the SpaceX CRS-22 mission when it returns to Earth.
Radishes are a model plant that is nutritious, grows quickly and is genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant frequently studied in microgravity. Results of the research could help improve growth of the plants in space improving their nutrition and taste. This will be a necessity for long flights of a year or more when astronauts travel to Mars.
Scientists also are using the microgravity environment of low-Earth orbit to tests drugs based on messenger ribonucleic acids for treating patients with leukemia.
During their stay on the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 64 crew will see a range of unpiloted spacecraft including the Northrop Grumman Cygnus, the next generation of SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft and the Boeing CST-100 Starliner on its uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 launched to the station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 6, 2020, carrying the uncrewed cargo Dragon spacecraft for the CRS-21 mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon delivered more than 6,400 pounds of science investigations and cargo to the orbiting laboratory.
Plans call for Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov are scheduled to return to Earth on April 17, 2021 aboard their Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft.
The Crew-1 astronauts will remain in space for about 180 days, returning to Earth during June 2021. The Dragon capsule is expected to splash down just off the coast of Florida and will be picked up by a SpaceX recovery vessel. The astronauts then will be transported to shore to board a plane for return to Houston.
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