CDC Cosmic Chat Comes to BPC

Cris Mytko, BPC’s STEAM coordinator, currently on leave and working for the CDC this year writing K-12 STEM curriculum related to COVID-19, invited students and parents to join her in viewing the February 10 International Space Station Expedition 64 in-flight event with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC leaders chatted live with astronauts Drs. Kate Rubins and Shannon Walker aboard the International Space Station! 

Kate Rubins was the first person to sequence DNA in space. During the current mission, lasting six months, the astronauts will conduct 200 experiments, including 3D tissue engineering and fluid behavior, as well as investigating how microbes act in space. Bacteria but not viruses are well studied in space and, where the CDC & NASA collaborate in the field of epidemiology, especially the study of the long-term health effects on astronauts of spending time in space.