Orbiting on Orbit: Behavioral Phenotyping of Female Mice Aboard the International Space Station

Abstract: Interest in space habitation and colonization has grown dramatically in recent years with planning underway for the first human spaceflight to Mars. Despite a robust history of domestic and international spaceflight research with model organisms, our understanding of biobehavioral adaptation to the weightless space environment for extended durations is scant. Here we report the first detailed behavioral analysis of mice flown in the NASA Rodent Habitat (RH) developed for conducting rodent res…