Astronauts Studying Immune System to Keep Crews Healthy

The Red Sea and the Nile River
The Red Sea and the Nile River at right were photographed from the International Space Station.

The Expedition 46 crew members participated in immunology research today helping scientists learn to keep astronauts healthy on longer and farther space missions. The crew also continued more vision checks and explored heart health.

Commander Scott Kelly, British astronaut Time Peake and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko each participated in a different experiment looking at the immune system of space residents.

Kelly collected body samples looking for microbes that could potentially cause infections or allergies and stowed them in a science freezer for analysis. Peake took a saliva sample for an experiment that is researching biomarkers for immune dysfunction in space. Kornienko explored how radiation and other unique factors of living in space could affect a crew member’s immune system.

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra also joined Kelly and Kornienko for eye exams for an experiment studying vision impairment reported by some International Space Station astronauts. Kopra and Peake also partnered up for ultrasound scans of their arteries with guidance from doctors on the ground. The ongoing Cardio Ox study looks at an astronaut’s carotid and brachial arteries before, during and after a space mission.

5 thoughts on “Astronauts Studying Immune System to Keep Crews Healthy”

  1. Thanks again for your participation and sacrifice to science. I am one who greatly benefits from this form of research.

  2. Dear Astronauts/Cosmonauts ? Are you suffering from any illness in the Space ? Is there fly in a Space? For example there is winter, and a lot of sour throat , running nose, cold and flu….How you manage to stay so good for a long time period and especially A ONE YEAR Program CRU ? Some special vitamins. nutrition bars. …..Stanislava Vlaykova

  3. The Good Force be with you!

    Nice posts, thanks for sharing & Godspeed!
    You good health is our good wealth…Happy Love Month of February 2016!

    Yes, we live forever & prosper! Alleluia! Amen! <3 O:) * (Y)

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