NASA's latest mission to the ISS features a bacterial experiment

Scientists are sending several strains of disease-causing bacteria to the International Space Station as part of the Crew-11 mission. This experiment isn't the plot to some cheesy horror film, but a scientific investigation from the Sheba Medical Center in Israel and the US-based company Space Tango with the goal of better understanding how bacteria spread and behave under extreme conditions. The experiment includes E. coli, along with bacteria that cause diseases like typhoid fever and the infection commonly known as Salmonella.

After reaching the ISS, the experiment will see the different bacterial species grow before being returned to Earth to be tested against counterparts that were grown simultaneously in an identical lab under normal conditions. The experiment's results will help scientists understand how bacteria respond to zero gravity and could help astronauts, who are more prone to infections during missions due to stress, exposure to radiation and changes ...