International Space Station Science Operations Status Report #6 – 15 Mar 2001

Dr. Douglas Watt, the principal investigator for the Hoffman
Reflex neurological experiment, has received and analyzed data
from two data collection sessions completed by the three
Expedition 2 crew members.

“The first two data collection sessions for the H-reflex experiment
went outstandingly well, with double runs performed by all three
subjects on both days, ” Watt reported from the Aerospace
Medical Research Unit of McGill University in Montreal, Canada,
where he analyzed the data. “The data quality was excellent and
spinal cord excitability appears to be changing as anticipated.”

On Wednesday morning, the Expedition Two crew – Commander
Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and James
Voss — performed the second test of the H-reflex experiment,
which studies how the nervous system adapts to the
microgravity environment inside the Space Shuttle and Space
Station. The first session was completed last Friday on the
second day of the STS-102 Space Shuttle mission.

These early sessions conducted on the Space Shuttle are
important because the body often changes quickly when exposed
to weightlessness. After Tuesday’s test, the crew transferred the
H-reflex experiment equipment to the Space Station.

“We look forward to the next experiment run, which should be
several months from now,” said Watt. “We will compare this run
to ones before flight and the ones just conducted to determine
how large the maximum change in the reflex can be.”