Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.

The timelapse shows NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei working on NASA’s Celestial immunity experiment in the Japanese Kibo laboratory’s Life Science Glovebox. Together with NASA astronaut Megan McArthur they worked over the past weeks on donor cell samples which are compared to samples on Earth. Observations may provide insights into new vaccines and drugs and advance the commercialisation of space. The investigation could uncover novel immune pathways useful for the development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat existing and emerging human diseases.

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.

Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.

Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.