Astroskin's first suborbital flight with Kellie Gerardi on Virgin Galactic's 05 mission

October 30, 2023

Kellie Gerardie, a U.S. Payload Specialist and Bioastronautics Researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), will become this week the first astronaut to use the Astroskin wearable vital signs monitoring system on a suborbital flight.

This is an important milestone for the Astroskin research platform, because the wearable sensors will be worn for the first time during a whole mission: launch, adaptation to microgravity, and landing.

This will allow the IIAS to collect physiological data during critical stages of the spaceflight: from rest to 3g acceleration and then microgravity, an astronaut's body experience stress and needs to adapt to the constant changing environment while the Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceship leaves New Mexico for space and comes back. These changes can be measured using Astroskin's wearable sensors.

The Galactic 05 research mission spaceflight is scheduled to launch on November 2nd 2023 from Spaceport America, 32 km southeast of the city of Trust or Consequences, New Mexico.

Portrait of US astronaut Kellie Gerardi

The Bio-Monitor Astroskin system is used aboard the International Space Station since 2019 to conduct medical research on the effects of spaceflight on human physiology. Four research projects are currently ongoing, mostly focusing on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Its deployment in space has been funded by the Canadian Space Agency and the system has been used by astronauts from CSA, NASA, ESA, JAXA, and the UAE Space Agency.

Over the years, Astroskin has become a standard for complex, continuous vital signs monitoring for space research. The system was awarded the 2022 International Space Station Research Innovation Award for Human Health in Space by the American Astronautical Society.

Kellie Gerardie has been training with the Astroskin to collect baseline data for over a year. The use of Astroskin before, during, and after the flight will be supported the IIAS payload integration team: Yvette Gonzalez, Dr Shawna Pandya, and Dr Aaron Persad.

Read more about Astroskin wearable sensors: https://hexoskin.com/astroskin

Read more about the Galactic 05 mission space research program here.

About Kellie Gerardi

Kellie Gerardi is an aerospace professional and a payload specialist flying to space on the Galactic 05 research mission with Virgin Galactic, during which she'll be conducting healthcare and fluid experiments in space on behalf of the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS). In addition to her work in the space industry, Kellie leads Mission Operations at Palantir Technologies, serves on the Defense Council for the Truman National Security Project, and served on the Board of Directors for The Explorers Club, whose esteemed flag she carried during a crew rotation at the Mars Desert Research Station. Kellie is the author of Not Necessarily Rocket Science and the acclaimed children’s picture book series Luna Muna, which was flown to the International Space Station in 2023 and read from space by Commander Peggy Whitson as part of the crew's STEM outreach activities. Kellie is a popular science communicator whose work has attracted nearly a million fans across social media platforms. Kellie lives in Jupiter, Florida with her husband Steven and their daughter Delta V. You can follow her on social media @kelliegerardi

astronaut health › astronauts › Astroskin › Defense & Space › Space Medicine › Space Research › Virgin Galactic ›

Astroskin's first suborbital flight with Kellie Gerardi on Virgin Galactic's 05 mission

October 30, 2023

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