For Release: 2 p.m. CST Oct. 29, 1998

Steve Roy
Media Relations Office
(256) 544-6535
Steve.Roy@msfc.nasa.gov
/centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/

RELEASE: 98-216

With the successful launch today of Space Shuttle Discovery, John Glenn and his fellow crew members are set to begin their work in space, which includes many experiments in microgravity research.

At approximately 5:35 p.m. CST, Glenn is scheduled to power up the BioDyn Bioreactor facility onboard Discovery, and start experiments to explore new medical treatments for cancer and diabetes. The facility will also be used to grow innovative repair tissues for damaged heart muscles, new synthetic bones for transplants and new compounds to prevent the human body from rejecting transplanted tissues.

Microgravity research uses the unique, near-weightless environment of space to unlock nature's secrets as part of the development of better disease-fighting drugs and improvement of manufacturing processes. The results can be of great benefit for the quality of our lives on Earth.

The principal investigator for the BioDyn Bioreactor is Dr. Charles Lundquist of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Lundquist and Dr. Marian Lewis, also of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the creator of the BioDyn Program, are available for media interviews during the mission.

During the STS-95 mission, the crew will conduct 54 experiments managed by NASA's Microgravity Research Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Ala. The principal investigators for each of the 54 experiments are available for telephone interviews or in-person at either NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida or at NASA's Marshall Center.

What's Ahead: The next scheduled update on John Glenn's microgravity experiment activities will be issued at approximately 9 a.m., Friday, Oct. 30. In the next 24 hours, Glenn is expected to activate the Protein Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity experiments in search of new medical treatments for various illnesses including diabetes and a children's respiratory disease.

For More Information:Please contact the Marshall Center Media Relations Office at (256) 544-0034.

For daily updates and background information about NASA's Microgravity Research Program experiments planned for the STS-95 mission, click on: /centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/