In the name of science

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson measures pressure in ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s eyes for the Fluid Shift experiment. Weightlessness tends to weaken an astronaut’s vision. Monitoring why and to what degree can lead to preventive measures. Experiments like this are one of many astronauts conduct during their missions on the International Space Station.

The crew of Expedition 50 recently broke the record for hours spent on science operations. Thomas, Peggy, fellow NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, and cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Andrei Borisenko and Sergei Ryzhikov clocked a combined 99 hours of science in the week of 6 March. Collaboration and teamwork are key to setting this new record and advancing science research in space.