From: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)
Subject: NASA scientists participate in Russian space mission [Release 92-223] (Forwarded)
Apparently-To: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Followup-To: sci.space
Originator: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov
Reply-To: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 21:56:53 GMT

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                December 14, 1992
(Phone:  202/358-0872)

Debra Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone:  202/358-1639)

Jane Hutchison
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone:  415/604-9000)


RELEASE:  92-223

NASA SCIENTISTS PARTICIPATE IN RUSSIAN SPACE MISSION 

     Scientists from NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain 
View, Calif., and across the United States will participate in 
a Russian biomedical space mission later this month.

     The Cosmos '92 "biosatellite" is an unpiloted, recoverable 
spacecraft that carries plant and animal experiments.  About 8 
feet in diameter, it is scheduled for launch from Plesetsk, 
Russia, on Dec. 29 on an SL-3 launch vehicle.  The mission will 
last up to 14 days, according to James Connolly, Cosmos Project 
Manager at Ames.
 
     "This mission will address questions critical to 
understanding the biomedical effects of prolonged space 
flight," said Dr. Rodney Ballard, Cosmos Project Scientist at 
Ames.

     NASA investigators will study changes in bone and 
metabolism in monkeys.  They also will examine changes in eye 
movements and gravity receptors in the inner ear and will 
analyze urine and plasma samples for signs of bone, muscle and 
connective tissue breakdown.  The animals will be monitored 
during the mission.  Scientists also will conduct post-flight 
studies.

     NASA personnel worked closely with their Russian 
counterparts to refine in-flight measurements of physiological 
changes.  These measurements will include body temperature, 
electrical activity of the heart and electrical currents 
generated in active muscles during space flight.

     Some U.S. scientists will investigate changes in muscles, 
bone density and the endocrine system.  Others will study the 
immune system, temperature regulation and circadian rhythms.  
Circadian rhythms are behavioral and physiological rhythms, 
such as metabolism and sleep rhythms, that follow approximate 
24-hour cycles.

     NASA engineers and scientists also developed a portable 
linear sled for use in the ground-based studies of eye 
movements and gravity receptors in the inner ear.

     Cooperation between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union 
in space life sciences began in 1972 with the signing of a 
joint agreement on the peaceful and cooperative use of space.  
Cosmos '92 is the eighth Russian biosatellite mission in which 
NASA has participated.

     Ballard said the cooperative program has provided many 
benefits to American life science researchers over the years, 
such as increasingly useful results on how humans, animals and 
plants react to the weightless environment of space.

     Connolly said the Cosmos missions have been particularly 
useful for studies requiring longer exposures to microgravity.  
"These missions have provided an experience base among American 
scientists and engineers that we can and do transfer to the 
U.S. space program," he said.

     Nine U.S./Russian investigator teams, in addition to 
scientists from France, Canada, the European Space Agency and 
Eastern Europe will participate in the mission.  They will 
conduct more than 25 experiments on a variety of living systems 
including seeds, beetles, fish, monkeys and others.

     Ames provides project management and experiment 
development for U.S. participation in the Cosmos program.  The 
Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow manages the Russian 
program.  Russia provides the biosatellite, launch vehicle, 
flight hardware and biological specimens.

     The Cosmos Program Manager at NASA Headquarters is 
Lawrence Chambers.  Dr. Frank Sulzman is Program Scientist.  
The program is sponsored by the Life Sciences Division of 
NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications, Washington, 
D.C.
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