Claim: NASA twins study explores space, the final genetic frontier.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: A Beautiful Planet
text: twin, Mark Kelly, who is also a retired NASA astronaut. The brothers have agreed to be the subjects of an unprecedented twin study; Mark stayed on Earth during Scott's eleven months aboard the ISS so that researchers could examine how an extended spaceflight affected Scott's body compared to Mark's. While Scott was in space and then continuing after he returned, both twins gave periodic blood samples and DNA swabs, and they underwent body scans and many other medical tests. In the epilogue to his 2017 book about the year long mission, Scott wrote that the very preliminary assessments of the

title: International Space Station United States National Laboratory
text: that old age does, this researcher is interested in determining the earliest point at which T-cells become different in space. Using a machine to analyze genes, one researcher is testing whether astronauts experience genetic changes in their DNA that would cause them to have weakened immune systems when in space. The findings in this experiment are important because it will determine if astronauts would be able to conduct experiments in space for extended periods of time. For example, scientists are using microgravity’s unique ability to accelerate bone deterioration to study rodent bone loss in space. The experiment involves studying how

title: Jessica Meir
text: which are able to tolerate extreme altitudes and low oxygen levels while flying over the Himalayas. Meir worked for three years at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. She worked for Lockheed Martin Space Operations as an experiment support scientist for the Human Research Facility at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Meir coordinated and supported human space life science experiments that were performed by astronauts on space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) missions. These experiments included physiological studies (bone loss, muscle control/atrophy, lung function, etc.) to determine if any bodily processes were altered in the spaceflight

title: GeneLab
text: systems adapt to spaceflight, leading to advances for life on Earth and beyond. GeneLab GeneLab is an open-access, collaborative analysis platform for space bioscience research. GeneLab aims to maximize the research resulting from experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by collecting and providing access to data from genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics studies aboard ISS. The Space Biosciences Division at NASA's Ames Research Center runs GeneLab. The GeneLab project is both a science collaboration initiative to maximize the omics data collected from spaceflight and from ground simulations of microgravity and radiation experiments; and a data system effort to establish

title: Sarah Wyatt
text: her teaching career at Ohio University in the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology. In early 2013, Wyatt submitted a research proposal to NASA's Research Opportunities in Space Biology (ROSBio), and in May of the same year her proposal along with eight others, was accepted for experimentation aboard the ISS. The objective of her space flight mission, entitled The Biological Research in Canisters-20 (BRIC-20), was to germinate "Arabidopsis thaliana" seedlings in space and study their transcriptomic and proteomic responses to microgravity. In January 2015, the SpaceX Falcon 9 was sent into orbit, placing a Dragon cargo capsule with the BRIC-20

title: Kounotori 3
text: from fish parents to grandkids, previously impossible in space shuttle experiments, has become a reality," NASA said in a press kit. The AQH experimental device will allow scientists and researchers to observe the birth of space aquatic creatures that have never experienced Earth's gravity, enabling them to better understand how the space environment affects animals beyond generations in preparation for potential long-term space travel in future. Medaka ("Oryzias latipes") will be bred and observed in the AQH experimental device. Two experiments, originally designed by the winners of the international YouTube Space Lab competition, would examine how "Bacillus subtilis" and the

title: TWINS
text: the geocorona. The TWINS prime mission lasted two years, from 2008 to 2010, and has been followed by an extended mission which is ongoing. Launched as missions of opportunity aboard classified, non-NASA U.S. government spacecraft, TWINS conducts stereoscopic imaging of Earth's magnetosphere. By imaging the charge exchange neutral atoms over a broad energy range (~1-100 keV) using two identical instruments on two widely spaced high-altitude, high-inclination spacecraft, TWINS enables the 3-dimensional visualization and the resolution of large scale structures and dynamics within the magnetosphere for the first time. In contrast to traditional space experiments, which make measurements at only one

title: Voyage from Yesteryear
text: quickly modify the design to carry several hundred sets of electronically coded human genetic data. Also included in this mission of embryo space colonization is a databank of human knowledge, robots to convert the data into genetic material and care for the children and construct habitats when the destination is reached, and a number of artificial wombs. The probe's designers name it the "Kuan-Yin" after the bodhisattva of childbirth and compassion. Shortly after the launch, global war indeed breaks out and several decades later, Earthbound humanity is united under an authoritarian government. It is this government that receives a radio

title: STS-41
text: its way, the STS-41 crew began an ambitious schedule of science experiments. Flowering plant samples were grown in the CHROMEX-2 module in a Kennedy Space Center and State University of New York at Stony Brook experiment. An earlier version of the experiment flown on STS-29 revealed chromosome damage in root tip cells but no damage to control plants on Earth. By studying plant samples carried on "Discovery", researchers hoped to determine how the genetic material in the root cells respond to microgravity. The information gained was of importance to future space travelers on long-term expeditions, researchers on the planned Space

title: National Space Biomedical Research Institute
text: for exemplary teaching, training and public outreach in support of the Vision for Space Exploration." During the opening ceremonies, NSBRI President and CEO Dr. Jeffrey P. Sutton and NSBRI Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Bobby R. Alford presented U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison with the Pioneer Award, the Institute's highest honor, for her support of human spaceflight. National Space Biomedical Research Institute The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) is a NASA-funded consortium of institutions studying the health risks related to long-duration spaceflight and developing solutions to reduce those risks. The NSBRI was founded in 1997. NSBRI's 16,400-square-foot

title: Astrobotany
text: from the surface and eventually using hollowed craters for autonomous growth chambers that can be harvested during mining missions. The study of plant research has yielded information useful to other areas of botany and horticulture. Extensive research into hydroponics systems was fielded successfully by NASA in both the CELSS and ALS programs, as well as the effects of increased photoperiod and light intensity for various crop species. Research also led to optimization of yields beyond what had been previously achieved by indoor cropping systems. Intensive studying of gas exchange and plant volatile concentrations in closed systems led to increased understanding

title: Romanian Space Agency
text: the national support for the implementation of the Agreement between Romania and the European Space Agency (ESA) on Romania's accession to the ESA Convention. The STAR programme held two competitions so far. The final flight of NASA's space shuttle Discovery - NASA mission STS-133 - transported a Romanian experiment created by the Romanian Institute for Space Science to the International Space Station. Growth and Survival of Colored Fungi in Space (CFS-A) was an experiment designed to determine the effect of microgravity and cosmic radiation on the growth and survival of colored fungi species. Principal investigators: Dumitru Hasegan, Romanian Institute for

title: Time for the Stars
text: Hydri. Due to the nature of relativistic travel (see Twin paradox), the twin who remained behind ages faster and eventually the affinity between them is weakened to the point that they can no longer communicate easily. Some of the spacefaring twins, including the protagonist, are able to connect with descendants of the Earthbound twins. Tom works first with his niece, then his grandniece, and finally his great-grandniece. The last planet scouted proves to be particularly deadly. Unexpectedly intelligent and hostile natives capture and kill a large portion of the remaining crew, including the captain and Tom's uncle. The reserve captain

title: STS-65
text: in space. Behavioral parameters studied included swimming, pulsing, and orientation. Study of developmental processes focused on gravity-sensing organs. The experiment also sought to determine the level of artificial gravity stimulus needed to counteract any negative effects of space flight. The objective of the plant embryogenesis (PEMBSIS) experiment was to evaluate whether space flight affected the pattern and developmental progression of embryonic daylilies from one well-defined stage to another. It also examined whether cell division (mitosis) and chromosome behavior were modified by the space environment. Adults and larvae of the Japanese Red-Bellied Newt species ("Cynopus pyrrhogaster") were used in the newt

title: GeneLab
text: data from spaceflight experiments and related ground-based studies conducted on a variety of organisms including: mouse, plants, fruit fly, cultured cells, nematodes, bacteria and fungi. The data are publicly available for download, and enable researchers to ask questions about how the spaceflight environment causes changes in the RNA, DNA and proteins, the building blocks of life. Because no single analysis can fully unravel the complexities of fundamental biology, GeneLab provides access to data from multiple experiments and at multiple layers of omics analysis that can be analyzed in an integrated fashion to obtain a more complete understanding of how biological

title: Caenorhabditis elegans
text: "C. elegans" from the University of Nottingham were announced to be spending two weeks on the International Space Station that October, in a space research project to explore the effects of zero gravity on muscle development and physiology. The research was primarily about genetic basis of muscle atrophy, which relates to spaceflight or being bed-ridden, geriatric, or diabetic. Descendants of the worms aboard Columbia in 2003 were launched into space on "Endeavour" for the STS-134 mission. Additional experiments on muscle dystrophy during spaceflight will be carried on board of the ISS starting in December 2018. "C. elegans" was the first

title: LOCAD
text: document the spread of biological material associated with human spaceflight, both before and after launch, in preparation for the human exploration of the Moon and Mars. The LOCAD-PTS Exploration experiment has been funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), under the Moon and Mars Analogue Mission Activities (MMAMA) Program, and is the first SMD-funded experiment aboard the ISS. The ISS Starboard S6 Truss-section was analyzed with LOCAD-PTS in October 2008 and December 2008—while located in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center—and again in space following launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-119. The S6 Truss was

title: Space Seed
text: changing the DNA code) would be used. In fact, subsequent references to the creation of Khan and the other supermen, such as in the "" episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", substituted genetic engineering. The Eugenics Wars, first mentioned in "Space Seed", are stated in the "Star Trek Chronology" by Michael and Denise Okuda as taking place between 1992 and 1996. They considered it fortunate that these events did not come to pass in the real world, and noted that the development of the "Botany Bay" in 1996 as an instance of where ""Star Trek" technological predictions have missed by a

title: International Space Station
text: the curiosity of children, cultivating their spirits, and encouraging their passion to pursue craftsmanship", and to "Heighten the child's awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society." Through a series of education guides, a deeper understanding of the past and near-term future of manned space flight, as well as that of Earth and life, will be learned. In the JAXA Seeds in Space experiments, the mutation effects of spaceflight on plant seeds aboard the ISS is explored. Students grow sunflower seeds which flew on the ISS for about nine months as a start to 'touch the Universe'.

title: Star Trek: Vanguard
text: expanse called the Taurus Reach. While the station does in fact help colonies across the area, its true mission (known only to a few people) is to study a mystery that began with the discovery of genetically engineered DNA millions of times more complex than any previously encountered, known as the Taurus Meta-Genome. In its effort to understand the Meta-Genome, Starbase 47 has three vessels permanently assigned to it, the "Constitution"-class cruiser USS "Endeavour", the tiny "Archer"-class scout USS "Sagittarius", and the "Daedalus"-class Starfleet Corps of Engineers starship USS "Lovell". Another starship, the USS "Bombay", was destroyed during the events