An experiment involving growing artificial replicas of human organs in the low-gravity environment of space is among 200 experiments due to be undertaken by three US astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut who blasted off from Florida in the early hours yesterday.
They are bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
The crew were carried into space in a capsule used in space four times before by Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm. The module was blasted into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The BBC reports that the Crew-8 mission will be in space for six months. It notes that space is one of the few areas where the US and Russia continue to co-operate closely despite the war in Ukraine.
The experiment involving growing artificial replicas of human organs will be one of more than 200 science experiments to be conducted during the mission, scheduled to finish in mid-August, according to Nasa’s ISS programme manager Joel Montalbano.
[Image: WikiImages from Pixabay]