John Glenn to Conduct Microgravity Studies on STS-95 Space Shuttle Mission

After Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off Oct. 29, STS-95 crew member John Glenn will begin work on a variety of investigations important to public health challenges and better products for industry.

Besides being the subject of various life science experiments on the aging process, the veteran space traveler will work as a payload specialist, or scientist in orbit. In the near-weightlessness of space, Glenn will activate and monitor microgravity experiments aimed at improving fundamental scientific knowledge. His research results will be used for product-oriented commercial applications in such diverse fields as medical, agriculture and manufacturing.

Once on orbit, Glenn will activate several investigations to aid researchers' efforts in the search for new drugs and treatments for life-threatening diseases. In one, he will gather important information in the search for a new substitute blood for transfusions. By carefully controlling plant growth conditions, he may develop information for new pharmaceutical compounds. He will monitor an investigation to grow a new synthetic bone transplant tissue. And Glenn will activate and monitor an investigation to study a material called Aerogel, a substance with tremendous insulating capacity and potential use in many everyday products and homes.

Here are additional details about microgravity experiments Glenn will activate and monitor over the nine-day mission.

Aerogel

Aerogel is the lightest solid known and a remarkable insulator. Nicknamed "frozen smoke" for its blue hazy appearance, a single window pane of Aerogel has the insulation effect of up to 30 panes of regular glass and trapped air. NASA researchers will test to see if the haze comes from the different sizes of pores or voids in this material, a form of silica gel. Such variations may account for light scattering in various directions, giving the material a cloudy appearance. Mixed in the near-weightlessness of space, the Aerogel test sample is expected to reveal whether absence from gravitational effects produces pores of a uniform size -- making Aerogel more transparent or clear.

Experiment samples may result in a clear version of the usually hazy Aerogel, and lead to a revolution in manufacturing greatly improved thermal-protected household windows. By using clear Aerogel as a high-tech insulation, consumers could conserve energy and save money by lowering heating and cooling costs.

Advanced Separation Commercial Payload

The ability to separate different cells, and cell components, from one another accurately and reliably is critical to the development of new and improved medical treatments for a variety of illnesses.

Dr. David Noever (left) and Ray Cronise, microgravity researchers of the Space Science Lab at Marshall Center examine a piece of Aerogel. Nicknamed "frozen smoke," Aerogel is the lightest solid known and if made clear, it could be used to insulate household windows.

Microencapsulation: Enclosing a drug in a tiny sphere for better delivery into the human body, a process called microencapsulation has the potential to provide a number of new medical treatments for cancer by reducing the side effects of chemotherapy. During this mission, investigators hope to encapsulate two complementary drugs, an anti-tumor drug and an immune stimulant, to create a potent time-released drug for colon cancer.

Recombinant Hemoglobin Research: This investigation will allow researchers to evaluate advanced technology for developing a genetically engineered hemoglobin product. Development of such a product could result in it becoming a replacement for whole human blood in transfusions.

ASTROCULTURE^TM

The ASTROCULTURE^TM facility provides a controlled environment in which to grow plants in the near-weightlessness of space. With Glenn's help, researchers will study the composition of volatile plant oils -- an important substance that gives plants flavor and fragrance. They also will look at whether genes can be transferred from bacteria to soybean seedlings in space. If successful, the gene transfers could result in soybean plants that are more disease resistant. Soybeans are an important export crop for the United States valued at over $14 billion annually.

BioDyn

The BioDyn Bioreactor is a facility that combines a culture vessel with the ability to grow live cells in space in rotating cylinders -- called bioreactors -- for medical research on diseases such as cancer and diabetes or for growth of new replacement tissues.

Protein Growth: This experiment will use the BioDyn bioreactor to grow a protein with potential to reduce or prevent the human body from rejecting transplanted tissues.

Microencapsulation: This research is focused on improving microencapsulating materials, so that insulin-producing cells may one day be implanted directly in the human body. This would allow the patient to be free from current treatments that involve daily insulin injections.

Synthetic bone: This research explores how to make artificial and synthetic materials implantable in the human body by seeding the foreign material with human bone cells. This will help researchers better understand how synthetic bone can be used to treat bone-related illnesses, bones damaged by accidents, dental reconstruction, long-bone grafts and coatings for orthopedic implants such as hip replacements.

Heart patches: This research is aimed at growing "heart patches" -- used to replace damaged heart muscle -- in the centimeter-size range or about a half-inch in diameter. Previous experiments in near-weightlessness have grown tiny millimeter-size heart patches. This innovative research may lead to early commercial development of heart patches.

Anti-cancer drugs: This research is aimed at production of anti-cancer compounds from plant cells. Cell cultures derived from soybean cells have shown promise in commercial labs on Earth in the production of anti-cancer drugs.

Protein Crystal Growth

Glenn will activate and monitor protein crystal growth experiments aboard the Shuttle to support and improve biomedical and biotechnology research for commercial applications and fundamental science investigations. Pure, precisely ordered protein crystals of sufficient size and uniformity are in high demand by drug developers. Through these large crystals, researchers may be able to unlock the secrets of how to stop a disease. Protein crystals grown on the ground often cannot be grown as large or as well-ordered as researchers desire, obscuring these vital pathways to cures.

Glenn will be involved with growing four protein crystal growth experiments during the mission.

Human insulin: Better information on the structure of human insulin may enable researchers to design new and longer lasting treatments for diabetes.

Chagas' Disease: Two types of crystals will be grown aboard Discovery that may lead to better understanding of this deadly parasitic disease that attacks the muscles of the body and affects over 20 million people throughout the world.

Pike Parvalbumin: Parvalbumin are found in the muscles, endocrine glands, skin cells, and some neurons of vertebrates, but the role they play in the muscles is not yet understood. Researchers are exploring theories of a connection between parvalbumin levels and the speed at which mammals' muscles relax before and after contraction.

Through space research, scientists have grown the largest insulin crystals ever studied (top). Pure, precisely ordered insulin crystals of sufficient size and uniformity are in high demand by drug developers. Insulin crystals grown on the ground (bottom) do not grow as large or as ordered as researchers desire. From the large crystals, researchers are gaining a clearer vision of insulin's vital form and function -- leading to better treatments for diabetic patients.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Respiratory Syncytial Virus is an infection that attacks respiratory airways and lungs. Each year nearly four million U.S. children ages 1 to 5 are infected. Approximately 100,000 of these children require hospitalization, and 4,000 die annually from resulting infection. Crystals of the neutralizing antibody against Respiratory Syncytial Virus grown during the STS-85 mission in August 1997 were larger and of higher quality than those grown in previous studies, an encouraging step in the fight against this affliction.

Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System

The Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System will be used to form and harvest microcapsules. This new facility uses electrostatic fields to add coatings to make the microcapsules more effective. Researchers are exploring "multi-layered" microcapsules as a new way of combating cancer and improving chemotherapy treatments.

Using a multi-layered microcapsule, a chemotherapy treatment can be placed directly into cancerous tumors through one of the tumor's blood vessels. As the microcapsule swells, it blocks the blood vessels in and around the tumor so that the chemotherapy treatment remains concentrated in the tumor. This swelling also reduces the blood supply to the tumor, strangling the unwanted tumor growth.

For More Information:

Interviews on subjects in this fact sheet with NASA, industry and university researchers are available. Please contact Steve Roy of the Marshall Center Media Relations Office at (256) 544-6535.

More information about Marshall Space Flight Center and Microgravity Research Program experiments can be found at: http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news and http://microgravity.msfc.nasa.gov/

NASA FACTS
FS-1998-10-008-MSFC
October 1998