The International Space Station (ISS) is home to crews of astronauts conducting research in low Earth orbit, but it also hosts a group of mutated bacteria that are thriving under the harsh conditions of space.
If you’re ever on your lunch break in space, you might actually want to stay away from the salad. A team of scientists grew lettuce in a simulated microgravity environment on Earth and found that plants have a hard time protecting themselves against harmful bacteria in space.
For astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS), space germs are bad news. The confined environment, plus a weakened immunity system, and more aggressive bacteria, means that catching a cold in space is way worse than on Earth. In order to help stop the spread of viruses in space, Boeing developed…
A one way trip to the Red Planet would take up to nine months. During that time, astronauts on board the Mars-bound spacecraft could lose their sense of direction and ability to know up from down, making it difficult to orient themselves on the Martian surface. In order to keep astronauts on course, a wearable device…
Nearing the end of an unintended year in space, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio reflected on Earthly pleasures that he was eager to indulge in as soon as he returned home.
A team of scientists say they may have found a new way to mitigate one of the most dangerous complications of space travel: the steady and inevitable loss of bone mass. In new research published this week, the team’s experimental treatment was able to promote bone growth in mice living aboard the International Space…
A group of engineers is testing an air conditioning system in space, seeing how two basic processes work in an environment with less gravity than Earth in order to design a system for future habitats on the Moon and Mars.
“I went silent,” Dwayne Fernandes told me. “I shut the hell up.” Fernandes, a double-amputee since the age of 11, was recounting his experience in weightlessness, having recently participated in a parabolic flight alongside a disabled research crew. The zero-g flight threw him into a deeply contemplative state, and as…
AstroAccess is a winner of the 2023 Gizmodo Science Fair for pushing for universal accessibility in the space environment and for running pathfinding tests in zero-gravity with help from disabled individuals.