The MDS experiment returns on board the Shuttle
Atlantis brings the Italian biomedicine experiment back to Earth after three months on the Space Station
27 Nov 2009
The Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 landed at Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 9.44 a.m. on 27 November 2009. The Shuttle was returning from the International Space Station bringing back to Earth various experiments including the Mice Drawer System (MDS). The MDS is the biomedicine experiment developed by the Italian Space Agency as part of the Italian use of the International Space Station, and was taken to the ISS at the end of August by a previous Shuttle mission. The payload, built by Thales Alenia Space, is a multifunctional and multiuser system that can be used for experiments in various areas of biomedical interest. It is the first time that a piece of equipment for containing animal models (mice in this case) had been taken onto the International Space Station. It is also the first time that it has been possible to carry out such a long experiment (90 days; about three months).
A total of twenty-one experiments coordinated by the ASI were carried out using the MDS; thirteen Italian and a further eight chosen by space agencies from other countries, including the ESA, NASA, JAXA, CSA and DLR. The main experiment, conducted by the University of Genoa, is dedicated to studying alterations in the bone system.
This mission, coordinated and managed by the ASI, was possible thanks to the involvement of the following centres: Telespazio (operational support) in Naples, the laboratories of the University of Genoa, Department of Oncology, Biology and Genetics (experimental support) in Genoa, Thales Alenia Space (engineering support) in Milan, and ALTEC (logistical support for the experiments in the post-landing phase) in Turin.
The preliminary results of the experiment are expected within six months.