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By NASA
Pictured from left: Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut mission specialist Takuya Onishi train at SpaceX facilities in Hawthorne, California (Credit: SpaceX). During NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station, which is scheduled to launch in March, select members of the four-person crew will participate in exercise and medical research aimed at keeping astronauts fit on future long-duration missions.
Crew members living and working aboard the space station have access to a designated training area outfitted with a weight-lifting system, a stationary bike, and a specialized treadmill called T2. The space station is expansive enough for bulky exercise equipment that helps preserve the health and performance of astronauts in space and when they return to Earth.
However, as NASA looks to explore beyond low Earth orbit, the agency anticipates future spacecraft will not have room for large exercise equipment, like treadmills. Since walking and running are essential parts of workouts aboard the space station, NASA does not fully understand how long-duration spaceflights without a treadmill will impact crews’ health and motor functions. Consequently, NASA researchers are adjusting astronauts’ training regimens, including eliminating the use of the treadmill in some cases, to study ways that maintain crews’ strength, fitness, bone health, and balance.
In an ongoing study called Zero T2, expedition crews are divided into three groups with different workout regimens. One group continues exercising normally, using all the available equipment aboard the orbiting complex. A second group forgoes using the treadmill, relying solely on the other available equipment. While a third group will only exercise using a new, experimental, less bulky workout machine. NASA compares the groups’ health data collected before, during, and after flight to determine if the lack of treadmill use negatively impacts the crews’ fitness, muscle performance, and recovery after return to Earth.
“A treadmill takes up a lot of mass, space, and energy. This is not great for missions to Mars where every kilogram counts,” explained NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, who participated in the same study while serving as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission in 2024. “The Zero T2 experiment is helping us figure out if we can go without a treadmill and still be healthy.”
Results of the Zero T2 study will help researchers determine how treadmill-free workouts may affect crew health, which will, in turn, help NASA build realistic exercise protocols for future deep space missions. Additionally, this investigation could support design improvements for exercise devices used to prevent or treat bone, muscle, and cardiovascular health on Earth.
Beyond the Zero T2 study, select NASA crew members will perform additional studies supported by the agency’s Human Research Program during their mission. Participating crew will conduct medical exams, provide biological samples, and document spaceflight-related injuries, among other tasks.
“Astronauts choose which studies to participate in based on their interests,” explained Cherie Oubre, a NASA scientist at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who helps oversee human research studies carried out aboard the space station. “The experiments address important risks and gaps associated with human spaceflight.”
One set of experiments, called CIPHER (Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research), will help researchers understand how multiple systems within the human body adjust to varying mission durations. CIPHER study members will complete vision assessments, cognitive tests, and MRI scans to help provide a clearer picture of how the entire body is affected by space.
“The CIPHER experiment tracks changes in the eyes, bones, heart, muscles, immune system, and more,” Oubre said. “The investigation provides the most comprehensive overview of how long-duration spaceflight affects the entire human body ever conducted, helping us advance human expeditions to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.”
Some crew members also will contribute to a core set of measurements called Spaceflight Standard Measures. The measurements represent how the human body and mind adapt to space travel over time and serve as a basis for other spaceflight studies like CIPHER. Additionally, crew members may provide biological samples for Omics Archive, a separate study analyzing how the body reacts to long-duration spaceflight at the molecular level.
In another study, select crew members will test a potential treatment for spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome, a condition associated with brain changes and swelling of the back of the eye. Researchers are unsure what causes the syndrome or why only certain astronauts develop it, but the shift of bodily fluids toward the head in weightlessness may play a role. Some scientists believe genetics related to how the body processes B vitamins may affect how astronauts respond to those fluid shifts. Participating crew will test whether a daily B vitamin supplement can ease or prevent the development of symptoms. They also will investigate if cuffs worn on astronauts’ thighs to keep fluids in the legs could be an effective intervention.
Upon return, the select crew members will complete surveys that record any discomfort or injuries associated with landing, such as scrapes and bruises. Results of the surveys ̶ when combined with data retrieved by sensors in the vehicle ̶ will help researchers catalog these injuries and improve the design of spacecraft.
Crew members began participating in the studies about a year before their mission, learning about the work and offering baseline health data. They will continue to provide data for the experiments for up to two years after returning home.
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NASA’s Human Research Program pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, and the International Space Station, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives NASA’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Learn More About Exercising in Space
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station typically exercise for two hours each day. From running to cycling to weightlifting, learn how crew members complete fitness regimens in space and commit to staying healthy – even in microgravity (Credit: NASA). Explore More
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, to provide the launch service for the agency’s Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission, which aims to understand why, when, and where tropical convective storms form, and why some storms produce extreme weather. The mission will launch on the company’s Alpha rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The selection is part of NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. This contract allows the agency to make fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards during VADR’s five-year ordering period, with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts.
The INCUS mission, comprised of three SmallSats flying in tight coordination, will investigate the evolution of the vertical transport of air and water by convective storms. These storms form when rapidly rising water vapor and air create towering clouds capable of producing rain, hail, and lightning. The more air and water that rise, the greater the risk of extreme weather. Convective storms are a primary source of precipitation and cause of the most severe weather on Earth.
Each satellite will have a high frequency precipitation radar that observes rapid changes in convective cloud depth and intensities. One of the three satellites also will carry a microwave radiometer to provide the spatial content of the larger scale weather observed by the radars. By flying so closely together, the satellites will use the slight differences in when they make observations to apply a novel time-differencing approach to estimate the vertical transport of convective mass.
NASA selected the INCUS mission through the agency’s Earth Venture Mission-3 solicitation and Earth System Science Pathfinder program. The principal investigator for INCUS is Susan van den Heever at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Several NASA centers support the mission, including Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Key satellite system components will be provided by Blue Canyon Technologies and Tendeg LLC, both in Colorado. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the VADR contract.
To learn more about NASA’s INCUS mission, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/incus
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Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
Patti Bielling
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-7575
patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 04, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) Earth Science Planetary Science Division Science & Research Science Mission Directorate SmallSats Program Wallops Flight Facility View the full article
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By Space Force
The DoD released guidance for DoD civilian employees on OPM's "What Did You Do Last Week" email.
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By Space Force
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed his priorities of strengthening the military by cutting fiscal fraud, waste and abuse at DOD while also finding ways to refocus the department's budget.
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By NASA
Official portrait of NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, taken on Nov. 22, 2024, at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free announced Wednesday his retirement, effective Saturday, Feb. 22. As associate administrator, Free has been the senior advisor to NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and leads NASA’s 10 center directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He is the agency’s chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees and oversaw an annual budget of more than $25 billion.
During his tenure as associate administrator since January 2024, NASA added nearly two dozen new signatories of the Artemis Accords, enabled the first Moon landing through the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative to deliver NASA science to the lunar surface, launched the Europa Clipper mission to study Jupiter’s icy ocean moon, and found molecules containing the ingredients for life in samples from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft.
“Throughout his career, Jim has been the ultimate servant leader – always putting the mission and the people of NASA first,” said Petro. “A remarkable engineer and a decisive leader, he combines deep technical expertise with an unwavering commitment to this agency’s mission. Jim’s legacy is one of selfless service, steadfast leadership, and a belief in the power of people.”
Among the notable contributions to the nation during his NASA career, Free also championed a new path forward to return samples from Mars ahead of human missions to the Red Planet, supported the crews living and working aboard the International Space Station as they conduct hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations, and engaged industry in new ways to secure a public/private partnership for NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission on the Moon.
“It has been an honor to serve NASA and walk alongside the workforce that tackles the most difficult engineering challenges, pursues new scientific knowledge in our universe and beyond, develops technologies for future exploration endeavors, all while prioritizing safety every day for people on the ground, in the air, and in space,” Free said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the NASA family and contribute to the agency’s mission for the benefit of humanity.”
During his more than three decades of service, Free has held several leadership roles at the agency. Before being named NASA associate administrator, Free served as associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, where he oversaw the successful Artemis I mission and the development of NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture, defining and managing the systems development for the agency’s Artemis missions and planning for NASA’s integrated deep space exploration approach.
Free began his NASA career in 1990 as an engineer, working on Tracking and Data Relay Satellites at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He later transferred to the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and served in a variety of roles supporting the International Space Station and the development of the Orion spacecraft before transferring to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in 2008. Free returned to NASA Glenn in 2009 and was promoted to chief of the Space Flight Systems Directorate, where he oversaw the center’s space work. Free was named deputy center director in November 2010 and then served as center director from January 2013 until March 2016, when he was appointed to the NASA Headquarters position of deputy associate administrator for Technical [sic] in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.
A native of Northeast Ohio, Free earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and his master’s degree in space systems engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Free is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Significant Achievement Medal, and numerous other awards.
For more information about NASA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Kathryn Hambleton / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 19, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Leadership View the full article
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