The MARROW experiment

2016-11-21 - In this image, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet is inserting blood tubes into MELFI (the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Putting the blood samples in a deep freeze helps keep the samples intact until they are flown back to Earth for testing by scientists. These blood samples are integral to MARROW, a study aimed at understanding the effects of immobility on the human body. While MARROW's subjects are the astronauts living on the ISS, the study's findings will benefit the people on Earth with reduced mobility and seniors and also promises to improve the rehabilitation of bedridden patients. (Credit: NASA)