t-minus ten nine eight remain engine
start we have main engine start four
three two
whoa there she goes sts-48 ori dedicated
entirely to life sciences research we
were pioneers oh excuse me where are my
manners
let me introduce myself Ari jellyfish
here Ari's short for Aurelia my family
name
we jellyfish go back five hundred
million years you know I consider our
finest hour
the Columbia mission in June 1991 yep
there were two thousand four hundred and
seventy eight of us on that flight of
course we were a lot smaller than just
little polyps there was plenty of room
until seven astronauts climbed aboard
but we couldn't go anywhere without them
oh sure it got a little crowded but we
were glad to do it
after all we were making history we were
helping NASA learn more about living in
space oh I know what you're saying and
what's the big deal it looks easy
floating around up there looks like a
barrel of laughs but living in space is
difficult in the early days of space
travel there was so much we didn't know
before humans traveled into space
animals were sent while scientists
checked their responses when the first
animal space travelers returned to Earth
they brought back enough information to
safely send the astronauts into space
but even when NASA sent John Glenn to
orbit the earth in 1962 they still
didn't know exactly how his body would
react
of course as more astronauts were sent
up scientists learn more about the
effects of space travel in relation to
life sciences life sciences well
basically that is the study of living
things how they grow function and
interact scientists knew that more
research needed to be done in space and
that's where I came in
I was part of an important NASA study on
the effects of microgravity a
microgravity as the word scientists used
to describe what happens to objects in a
freefall orbit in other words they float
let me explain here on earth we feel the
effects of gravity almost everywhere you
can experience a similar environment to
microgravity if you go underwater like
me unfortunately you can't stay
underwater for long periods of time you
can experience microgravity on a
roller-coaster ride like this or train
like the astronauts do and NASA's
special training airplane the kc-135
that flies up and down but the problem
is that simulated microgravity only
lasts 15 or 20 seconds in space
microgravity lasts for as long as you're
in orbit you drift all over the place
and it's hard to tell if up is really up
and down is really down so it's
difficult to predict how body functions
will react that's why scientists conduct
experiments to learn more about
microgravity when they decided to use
jellyfish for the microgravity
experiment everybody asked why jellyfish
hey why not you know we are similar to
you in a lot of ways and one of our best
friends a scientist knew we were special
and could contribute a lot to science
dr. Dorothy Spangenberg is the real
expert who made it all happen for us
she's been hanging around with us for
years
she knows everything about me raised me
from a little pollen dr. Spangenberg and
her students worked with us for years
before we actually flew in space
she began her research more than two
decades ago collecting us along the
Texas coast and people from all around
the world sent her different types of
jellyfish to study that's why they call
her the jellyfish lady and the more she
learned about us the more she knew NASA
could learn a lot from us because of our
similarities to humans but you should
hear this from someone who saw us in
action
dr. millie hughes-fulford thanks for the
introduction airy
hi my name is dr. Miller use broker I
was a payload specialist on Space Lab
life sciences I'm here today from the
Monterey aquarium in minor in California
for another team of researchers are
learning more about jellyfish everyday
jellyfish are among the simplest
organisms but they have neurons are
nerve cells similar to humans they have
sensors called gravity receptors located
in their arms that help them maintain
their balance and know where they're
going
think of it as a built-in compass the
gravity receptors tell them up this up
and down is down humans have this - to
help us maintain our balance there are
gravity receptors located in our inner
ear have you ever ridden an amusement
park ride that spins you around when you
get off you feel like you're going to
fall down right that's because the
motion affects your inner ear even after
you stop moving fluids in your inner ear
keep moving this makes you dizzy this
type of motion sickness affects
astronauts in space as well by learning
more about the development and function
of gravity receptors scientists hope to
fight the effects of space sickness by
sending jellyfish up in space we hope to
find out if they would react differently
in microgravity that on earth would they
know up is up and down is down and there
are even more ways jellyfish help us
learn about living in space astronauts
returning to earth also suffer from a
calcium deficiency
we need calcium to keep our bones strong
extended calcium deficiency causes
osteoporosis a bone disease and many gun
diseases as well each jellyfish gravity
receptor has a sack of calcium sulfate
crystals Johnston's our inner ear has
calcium containing crystals on SLS one
we wondered if jellyfish would suffer a
calcium deficiency - but these weren't
the only reasons the jellyfish were
chosen to fly with us it was their small
size that made the difference we wanted
a small animal we could study as it
developed in space did you know that
more than a hundred jellyfish polyps can
fit on a dime the jellyfish is also
easier to study because it develops and
distinct individual phases from polyp to
affero and finally to Medusa the type
most commonly seen in the ocean it takes
from six to eight days for a jellyfish
polyp to develop into an adult defero
and we know it takes nine months for a
human baby to develop and about two
years for baby elephant to develop into
maturity can you imagine if we filled
the orbiter with baby elephants for the
study holy cow or should i say holy
elephants what a mess we were certainly
a lot easier to work with than baby
elephants however we still needed
special preparation for space travel we
underwent months of training with the
astronauts they studied our appearance
and development so they would know just
what to look for when we were in space
and when launch day finally came we were
ready of course I was back in the
payload Bay to get a bird's-eye view of
all the action let me introduce you to
another member of the flight dr. Tammy
Jernigan thanks Harry
hi I'm dr. Tammy Jernigan I'm in the
Space Lab trainer here at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston Texas I was a
mission specialist on SLS one
coordinating all the payload operations
carrying out the mission objectives in
this case working with jellyfish when
people travel in space we have to take
our environment with us we have oxygen
food and everything else we need to
protect us from the elements of space
when jellyfish travel in space they need
to take their environment with them as
well the jellyfish on board sos1
were placed in specially prepared bags
filled with saltwater and carried in an
incubator to stabilize their environment
just before we launched
dr. Spangenberg and her students poured
an iodine mixture into some of the bags
to encourage the jellyfish's development
after all this planning we wanted to be
absolutely certain that the polyps would
develop by the time sls one settled into
orbit and we had begun our experiments
the jellyfish had passed their first
important test with flying colors they
survived the launch proving a smaller
organism can withstand the forces of
liftoff to help the jellyfish polyps
develop into a fire we added the iodine
mixture to another group of jellyfish
while we conducted experiments in the
orbiter simultaneous research was taking
place on the ground by dr. Spangenberg
and her students the earth research is
called the control a setup that doesn't
have the variable being tested every
experiment should have a control because
it gives you something to compare your
results against both groups of jellyfish
were videotape as they swam in hopes of
recording any changes in their movement
or behavior one of the most exciting
changes happened almost right away
remember how the jellyfish used their
arms to pulse up and float down to feed
on earth in microgravity the jellyfish
moved in circles but they were still
able to pulse and swim easily in fact
despite being in a microgravity
environment
the jellyfish polyps appeared to develop
normally
after nine days in orbit we began to
prepare the jellyfish for the trip home
one group was secured in the locker to
be immediately studied after landing the
second group was preserved in a special
liquid to be studied and compared to the
jellyfish used in dr. Spangenberg
simultaneous earth experiment the
information we gathered on SLS one will
help us to learn how to fight the
negative effects of space travel and
paved the way for astronauts to stay in
space for months or even years at a time
pretty exciting right
Airi you said it Tammy boy those nine
days just flew by but this isn't the end
of our story
uh-uh once we landed dr Spangenberg
spent more than a year studying and
comparing us to our earthbound jellyfish
and her results surprised everyone after
swimming in circles in space some of us
still swam a little funny after we
returned to earth however most of us
went back to our old ways pretty quickly
scientists believe that our gravity
receptors function differently which
made us more sensitive to microgravity
the exciting news is that we can develop
from a polyp to an F IRA in space when
they studied our cells they found most
of us were completely normal
oh I hear you you're saying hey what
does this mean to me well the more
scientists on earth understand how cells
the basic unit of life develop the more
they can learn about human bodies and
their responses on earth and in space
they'll also learn more about the human
immune system and how it fights diseases
they'll learn more about your body and
the amazing things it can do just think
we can learn all this from a little
jellyfish it just goes to prove that
science is like a puzzle it takes many
pieces to finally get the big picture
this mission was such a success NASA is
already planning to send more jellyfish
up in the future
by bringing together more pieces of the
puzzle perhaps one day more the
mysteries of space will be revealed and
my children and you will be there to
experience it all