NASA says the astronauts flying its SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station will take part in a series of experiments on human health and performance. The work is meant to show how the body and mind cope with long stays in orbit.
One focus is a new collaborative project on how spaceflight affects blood circulation and clotting. Weightlessness moves fluids around the body, and researchers want to understand how that shift could raise health risks for crews.
The agency will also test how well crew members can still fly a spacecraft by hand, and it will evaluate ways to limit the vision and brain changes linked to long missions. In addition, standard health data will be collected from the crew. NASA says the results will help protect astronauts on future long-duration flights, including missions beyond low Earth orbit.
