#international-space-station

#international-space-station

Icarus Robotics cofounders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer spent hours interviewing astronauts about what it was like working in space as they homed in on their startup idea. Their big takeaway: the work was often more cargo logistics than cutting-edge science. "We're Amazon warehouse workers with PhDs," one astronaut said. If an experiment takes two hours on station, the person continued, the first ninety minutes are spent just moving around cargo and preparing tools.

Ask any astronaut who has spent extended periods in the International Space Station what the most challenging part was, and they will probably say missing friends and family. While there are plenty of amazing and unique experiences, life in space comes with other little challenges, too - try getting your hair to stay flat without gravity or wearing the same outfit for days on end.

An experiment conducted on board the International Space Station might help to clarify the science of pregnancy in space. A study published earlier this month in the journal Stem Cell Reports involved studying what the authors describe as "cryopreserved mouse spermatogonial stem cells" that spent six months on the ISS. The scientists studying the mouse stem cells found that, after six months, that time spent in space "did not increase apoptosis or DNA damage" in the cells.

The Crew-11 mission, under the command of Zena Cardman, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, aiming for a stay of six to eight months on the ISS.