|
   |
 |
|
N E U R O N - Neurolab Online Project
PART 1: Launch, just the beginning! LAUNCH, JUST THE BEGINNING!
Hey, fellow Earth bound citizens! What a thrill to be able to see "our" mission off from the Kennedy Space Center. I hope you've been able to join us, if not live, at least within a short time in archived form, so you could be part of this experience. I'm back at Ames Research Center in California now trying to catch up a bit. Expect really soon to see a run-down from Ames Research Center Project Scientist, Louis Ostrach as he brought me up to date on what's really going on now. I will continue to update our files at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/events/launch with more pictures and two more interviews. In one of my earliest updates I expressed how fortunate I feel to be a part of this exciting mission. I've returned a bit exhausted but full of excitement and stories to share. That I picked two journals that focus on sleep may give you a hint as to part of my frame of mind! As I type, the crew is wrapping up Day 8 on orbit, and I would encourage you to follow their progress. I've made several suggestions below as to where and how you can get live video feed! Watch for Jim, Jay or Dave to wear their NeurOn T-shirts! Also listen for Alex's voice from Mission Control in Houston, Texas as he and Chiaki Mukai, the other alternate payloads specialist, communicate with the other crew members onboard STS-90. Have a restful weekend - I intend to, Linda FOLLOW THE SHUTTLE ON ORBIT
April 22, 1998 Be sure to follow the progress of the shuttle activities. We'll try to keep you posted, but there are many ways you can tune in yourself: Pictures and description on a daily basis http://shuttle.nasa.gov/index.html/ Find out if you're one of the lucky ones who's in a spot where you can see the shuttle going by: http://shuttle.nasa.gov/current/orbit/orbiter/sighting/ There are several place to view the NASA Video downlink from the shuttle: http://163.205.195.2/shuttle/countdown/video/video.html http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/live/audio.ram And printed updates of the daily mission highlights at: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-90/mission-sts-90.html Then, besides our site, there are tons of pictures: Up to launch from Kennedy Space Center: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-90/images/images.html Before and during flight from Johnson Space Center: http://shuttle.nasa.gov/sts-90/images/ SPANISH CARGO STOWED ONBOARD
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) is considered one of the most outstanding neuroscientists of all time due to his many and important contributions to our knowledge of the organization of the nervous system. Before Cajal's discoveries, very little was known about the neuronal elements of the nervous system, and the connections between its different parts were purely speculative. A series of his original slides are flying aboard Neurolab. To learn more about Cajal go to the crew web pages at: http://www.psu.edu/nasa/cajal.htm See the slides at: http://www.psu.edu/nasa/cajal2.htm [Editor's note: Robert works as an experiment processing engineer at the Kennedy Space Station. His job is to test scientific experiments that are scheduled to fly in space.] NEUROLAB IS ON ITS WAY! NOW, IT'S TIME FOR "SLEEP" http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/kuczajda.html April 22, l998 Conclusion of the Neurolab Mission Well the Neurolab mission is finally underway. I have been very busy the past few months working on the Astronaut Lung Function Experiment (ALFE) and the other hardware that comprise the overall experiment on "sleep." The sleep experiment is designed to study and improve the astronauts' sleep patterns in zero gravity. The experiment is really comprised of two investigations. The first one studies the effect of melatonin on sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that triggers sleepiness in the body. On orbit, the astronauts will be given a dose of melatonin and their body will be monitored to determine if their sleep patterns are altered. The second investigation is on respiration. That's where the ALFE hardware comes in. The astronauts breathe into the mouthpiece of ALFE which delivers a mixture of different gasses. An advanced gas analyzer can then determine the amount of gasses absorbed and exhausted by the body. It is felt that a change in respiration and altered levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood can be one factor leading to sleeplessness. The exciting thing about the sleep experiment is that the results can be used back on Earth. Maybe one day we will be able to get a better night's sleep in fewer hours or lessen the effects of jet-lag! The launch of the Neurolab payload was very exciting to me because of all the hard work I put into it. Unfortunately, I had to watch it from my home in Orlando (I was on the night shift prior to launch) so it looked like a tiny speck in the sky from 50 miles away. Lucky for me it was on TV also! From what I have heard, the experiment is performing like a champ on-orbit! There is rumor that there may be a Neurolab 2 mission later this year. If that is indeed true, I will look forward to again working with all the scientists, engineers, and astronauts who made the sleep experiment a great success. [Editor's note: Ray is a volunteer to our Aero Design Team Online http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero as Research Coordinator for the Fatigue Countermeasures Program at Ames Research Center. In Neurolab he work with Dr. David Neri in the Fatigue Countermeasures Program. Pictures that accompany this journal on involvement in Neurolab may be seen at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/fjournals/oyung/sleep.html ] SLEEPING IN SPACE http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/ray.html April 21, 1998 Lots of things have been going on over the last couple of months. Neurolab is a mission on the Space Shuttle Columbia which launched Friday April 17, 1998. Our piece of the mission is an experiment to determine how well humans sleep and breath in space. Also, we are testing the efficacy (effectiveness) of synthetic melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that's naturally secreted from the brain at night. It is thought to be one of the reasons why we sleep at night and why it's harder to sleep during the day. Some of the data the astronauts on this mission will be collecting are: brain wave activity (also called EEG); eye activity (EOG); muscle activity (EMG); heart activity (ECG); respiration; nasal airflow (through a device called a thermistor taped under the nose); snoring (through a microphone taped to the neck); blood oxygen saturation (SaO2); and core body temperature. During the mission, quite a bit of data will be down linked from the shuttle to the scientists on the ground in the Space Mission Area (SMA) at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This same experiment will be conducted by a couple astronauts on STS 95 which will launch in late October this year. I'll show you more pictures and give you more information on a very well know and distinguished individual in our history of the exploration of Space a little later. Until then, keep up the good work at school. SUBSCRIBING & UNSUBSCRIBING: HOW TO DO IT! If this is your first message from the updates-nrn list, welcome! To catch up on back issues, please visit the following Internet URL: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/updates To subscribe to the updates-nrn mailing list (where this message came from), send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: subscribe updates-nrn CONVERSELY... To remove your name from the updates-nrn mailing list, send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: unsubscribe updates-nrn If you have Web access, please visit our "continuous construction" site at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron
|
||
|
|
|
