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By NASA
The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission sit inside a Dragon training spacecraft at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Pictured from left: Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui (Credit: SpaceX). NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is set to launch a four-person crew to the International Space Station later this summer. Some of the crew have volunteered to participate in a series of experiments to address health challenges astronauts may face on deep space missions during NASA’s Artemis campaign and future human expeditions to Mars.
The research during Crew-11 includes simulated lunar landings, tactics to safeguard vision, and other human physiology studies led by NASA’s Human Research Program.
Select crew members will participate in a series of simulated Moon landings, before, during, and after their flight. Using a handheld controller and multiple screens, the astronauts will fly through simulated scenarios created to resemble the lunar South Pole region that Artemis crews plan to visit. This experiment allows researchers to evaluate how different gravitational forces may disorient astronauts and affect their ability to pilot a spacecraft, like a lunar lander.
“Even though many landing tasks are automated, astronauts must still know how to monitor the controls and know when to take over to ensure a safe landing,” said Scott Wood, a neuroscientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston coordinating the scientific investigation. “Our study assesses exactly how changes in gravity affect spatial awareness and piloting skills that are important for navigating these scenarios.”
A ground control group completing the same tasks over a similar timeframe will help scientists better understand gravitational effects on human performance. The experiment’s results could inform the pilot training needed for future Artemis crews.
“Experiencing weightlessness for months and then feeling greater levels of gravity on a planet like Mars, for example, may increase the risk of disorientation,” said Wood. “Our goal is to help astronauts adapt to any gravitational change, whether it’s to the Moon, a new planet, or landing back on Earth.”
Other studies during the mission will explore possible ways to treat or prevent a group of eye and brain changes that can occur during long-duration space travel, called spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).
Some researchers suspect the redistribution of bodily fluids in constant weightlessness may increase pressure in the head and contribute to SANS. One study will investigate fluid pressure on the brain while another will examine how the body processes B vitamins and whether supplements can affect how astronauts respond to bodily fluid shifts. Participating crew members will test whether a daily B vitamin supplement can eliminate or ease symptoms of SANS. Specific crew members also will wear thigh cuffs to keep bodily fluids from traveling headward.
Crew members also will complete another set of experiments, called CIPHER (Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research), which measures how multiple systems within the human body change in space. The study includes vision assessments, MRI scans, and other medical exams to provide a complete overview of the whole body’s response to long-duration spaceflight.
Several other studies involving human health and performance are also a part of Crew-11’s science portfolio. Crew members will contribute to a core set of measurements called Spaceflight Standard Measures, which collects physical data and biological samples from astronauts and stores them for other comparative studies. Participants will supply biological samples, such as blood and urine, for a study characterizing how spaceflight alters astronauts’ genetic makeup. In addition, volunteers will test different exercise regimens to help scientists explore what activities remain essential for long-duration journeys.
After landing, participating crew members will complete surveys to track any discomfort, such as scrapes or bruises, acquired from re-entry. The data will help clarify whether mission length increases injury risks and could help NASA design landing systems on future spacecraft as NASA prepares to travel to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
NASA’s Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, and aboard the International Space Station, the program investigates how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives NASA’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready.
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By Space Force
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:01:38 On 11 June, engineers at OHB’s facilities in Germany joined together the two main parts of ESA’s Plato mission.
They used a special crane to lift Plato’s payload module, housing its 26 ultra-sensitive cameras, into the air and carefully line it up over the service module. The supporting service module contains everything else that the spacecraft needs to function, including subsystems for power, propulsion and communication with Earth.
With millimetre-level precision, the engineers gently lowered the payload module into place. Once perfectly positioned, the team tested the electrical connections.
Finally, they securely closed a panel that connects the payload module to the service module both physically and electronically (seen ‘hanging’ horizontally above the service module in this image). This panel, which opens and closes with hinges, also contains the electronics to process data from the cameras.
Now in one piece, Plato is one step closer to beginning its hunt for Earth-like planets.
In the coming weeks, the spacecraft will undergo tests to ensure its cameras and data processing systems still work perfectly.
Then it will be driven from OHB’s cleanrooms to ESA’s technical heart (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. At ESTEC, engineers will complete the spacecraft by fitting it with a combined sunshield and solar panel module.
Following a series of essential tests to confirm that Plato is fit for launch and ready to work in space, it will be shipped to Europe’s launch site in French Guiana.
The mission is scheduled to launch on an Ariane 6 in December 2026.
Access the related broadcast quality video footage.
ESA’s Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will use 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars.
Plato's scientific instrumentation, consisting of the cameras and electronic units, is provided through a collaboration between ESA and the Plato Mission Consortium. This Consortium is composed of various European research centres, institutes and industries, led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the industrial Plato Core Team led by OHB together with Thales Alenia Space and Beyond Gravity.
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone monitors instrument data while onboard the Twin Otter aircraft, flying over Monterey Bay during the October 2024 deployment of the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc In autumn 2024, California’s Monterey Bay experienced an outsized phytoplankton bloom that attracted fish, dolphins, whales, seabirds, and – for a few weeks in October – scientists. A team from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, with partners at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the Naval Postgraduate School, spent two weeks on the California coast gathering data on the atmosphere and the ocean to verify what satellites see from above. In spring 2025, the team returned to gather data under different environmental conditions.
Scientists call this process validation.
Setting up the Campaign
The PACE mission, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, was launched in February 2024 and designed to transform our understanding of ocean and atmospheric environments. Specifically, the satellite will give scientists a finely detailed look at life near the ocean surface and the composition and abundance of aerosol particles in the atmosphere.
Whenever NASA launches a new satellite, it sends validation science teams around the world to confirm that the data from instruments in space match what traditional instruments can see at the surface. AirSHARP (Airborne aSsessment of Hyperspectral Aerosol optical depth and water-leaving Reflectance Product Performance for PACE) is one of these teams, specifically deployed to validate products from the satellite’s Ocean Color Instrument (OCI).
The OCI spectrometer works by measuring reflected sunlight. As sunlight bounces off of the ocean’s surface, it creates specific shades of color that researchers use to determine what is in the water column below. To validate the OCI data, research teams need to confirm that measurements directly at the surface match those from the satellite. They also need to understand how the atmosphere is changing the color of the ocean as the reflected light is traveling back to the satellite.
In October 2024 and May 2025, the AirSHARP team ran simultaneous airborne and seaborne campaigns. Going into the field during different seasons allows the team to collect data under different environmental conditions, validating as much of the instrument’s range as possible.
Over 13 days of flights on a Twin Otter aircraft, the NASA-led team used instruments called 4STAR-B (Spectrometer for sky-scanning sun Tracking Atmospheric Research B), and the C-AIR (Coastal Airborne In-situ Radiometer) to gather data from the air. At the same time, partners from UCSC used a host of matching instruments onboard the research vessel R/V Shana Rae to gather data from the water’s surface.
Ocean Color and Water Leaving Reflectance
The Ocean Color Instrument measures something called water leaving reflectance, which provides information on the microscopic composition of the water column, including water molecules, phytoplankton, and particulates like sand, inorganic materials, and even bubbles. Ocean color varies based on how these materials absorb and scatter sunlight. This is especially useful for determining the abundance and types of phytoplankton.
Photographs taken out the window of the Twin Otter aircraft during the October 2024 AirSHARP deployment showcase the variation in ocean color, which indicates different molecular composition of the water column beneath. The red color in several of these photos is due to a phytoplankton bloom – in this case a growth of red algae. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
The AirSHARP team used radiometers with matching technology – C-AIR from the air and C-OPS (Compact Optical Profiling System) from the water – to gather water leaving reflectance data.
“The C-AIR instrument is modified from an instrument that goes on research vessels and takes measurements of the water’s surface from very close range,” said NASA Ames research scientist Samuel LeBlanc. “The issue there is that you’re very local to one area at a time. What our team has done successfully is put it on an aircraft, which enables us to span the entire Monterey Bay.”
The larger PACE validation team will compare OCI measurements with observations made by the sensors much closer to the ocean to ensure that they match, and make adjustments when they don’t.
Aerosol Interference
One factor that can impact OCI data is the presence of manmade and natural aerosols, which interact with sunlight as it moves through the atmosphere. An aerosol refers to any solid or liquid suspended in the air, such as smoke from fires, salt from sea spray, particulates from fossil fuel emissions, desert dust, and pollen.
Imagine a 420 mile-long tube, with the PACE satellite at one end and the ocean at the other. Everything inside the tube is what scientists refer to as the atmospheric column, and it is full of tiny particulates that interact with sunlight. Scientists quantify this aerosol interaction with a measurement called aerosol optical depth.
“During AirSHARP, we were essentially measuring, at different wavelengths, how light is changed by the particles present in the atmosphere,” said NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone. “The aerosol optical depth is a measure of light extinction, or how much light is either scattered away or absorbed by aerosol particulates.”
The team measured aerosol optical depth using the 4STAR-B spectrometer, which was engineered at NASA Ames and enables scientists to identify which aerosols are present and how they interact with sunlight.
Twin Otter Aircraft
AirSHARP principal investigator Liane Guild walks towards a Twin Otter aircraft owned and operated by the Naval Postgraduate School. The aircraft’s ability to perform complex, low-altitude flights made it the ideal platform to fly multiple instruments over Monterey Bay during the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
Flying these instruments required use of a Twin Otter plane, operated by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The Twin Otter is unique for its ability to perform extremely low-altitude flights, making passes down to 100 feet above the water in clear conditions.
“It’s an intense way to fly. At that low height, the pilots continually watch for and avoid birds, tall ships, and even wildlife like breaching whales,” said Anthony Bucholtz, director of the Airborne Research Facility at NPS.
With the phytoplankton bloom attracting so much wildlife in a bay already full of ships, this is no small feat. “The pilots keep a close eye on the radar, and fly by hand,” Bucholtz said, “all while following careful flight plans crisscrossing Monterey Bay and performing tight spirals over the Research Vessel Shana Rae.”
Campaign Data
Data gathered from the 2024 phase of this campaign is available on two data archive systems. Data from the 4STAR instrument is available in the PACE data archive and data from C-AIR is housed in the SeaBASS data archive.
Other data from the NASA PACE Validation Science Team is available through the PACE website: https://pace.oceansciences.org/pvstdoi.htm#
Samuel LeBlanc and Kristina Pistone are funded via the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), which is a scientist-founded nonprofit focused on supporting Earth and space sciences.
About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
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Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Research Center Earth Earth Science Earth Science Division PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By European Space Agency
At the Living Planet Symposium, attendees have been hearing how ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission could provide the first opportunity to directly track a vital ocean circulation system that warms our planet – but is now weakening, risking a possible collapse with far-reaching consequences.
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