ISS, January 10. /TASS/. Russian crew members at the International Space Station (ISS) conducted the second stage of a space experiment dubbed Neuroimmunity to gain scientific knowledge about the stages of human physiological adaptation to zero-gravity during extended space flights, Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin, who is also a TASS special correspondent, reported.
According to him, the experiment included daily ECG monitoring and assessment of motor activity over two days. Petelin also took blood from the vein of his colleague Sergey Prokopyev. The last time the experiment was held was three months ago. Petelin noted that he did not lose the skill of drawing blood.
"There was a lot of training on Earth both on special skin-imitating models and on volunteers from among our instructors from the medical directorate of the Cosmonaut Training Center," he said, specifying that Prokopyev did not draw his blood.
The biological material is then placed in a special centrifuge and frozen. It is preserved in a frozen state until it returns to Earth where it is handed over to scientists.
According to the scientists, the Neuroimmunity scientific experiment will help decipher the mechanism of changes in the immune system during space flight. During the experiment, the cosmonauts are examined twice before the flight, three times during a six-month mission or six times during a longer mission and four times following the flight’s completion.
On November 17, 2021, TASS and Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, according to which the agency's office was opened on the ISS. The first TASS special correspondent was cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. His flight lasted 12 days. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev became the agency's second special correspondent. Currently, Dmitry Petelin is working in the TASS office on the ISS.