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TikToker in space: Virgin Galactic to send up well-known researcher
by AFP Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) June 4, 2021

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced Thursday it will send researcher Kellie Gerardi, a well-known figure on TikTok, into space to conduct experiments for several minutes while weightless.

The move presents an ideal opportunity for the company to flaunt its ambitions not only to send wealthy tourists on pleasure rides costing $200,000 or more, but also to advance science.

The 32-year-old bioastronautics researcher, who is affiliated with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), said she always believed the space tourism industry's success could also "help open up opportunities for researchers like myself."

The first experiment conducted by Gerardi, who has more than 400,000 TikTok followers and some 130,000 on Instagram, will involve "astro skin," in which sensors are placed under her flight suit to collect biometric data. While the process has already been used aboard the International Space Station, data has never before been collected during landing and takeoff.

Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, hopes to begin regular commercial suborbital flights in early 2022, with eventual plans for 400 trips a year.

The flights are far from the classic rocket experience, with a carrier plane taking off from a runway then dropping the spacecraft once in the air, which then ignites its engines.

Asked whether just a few minutes in space was sufficient, Gerardi said "uninterrupted consecutive minutes of time in space in microgravity to do my research" was "really the dream."

Until now she has only been able to board parabolic flights which reproduce zero gravity conditions for a few seconds, achieved in conventional planes that tilt at strong angles towards the sky and then towards the ground.

When experiments are sent to the ISS, Gerardi said, they stay there for several months, but the scientists unfortunately don't travel with them.

"They're not able to check in on it or manipulate it, or fix it," Gerardi said.

With Virgin Galactic's expected frequent flight schedule, "we could validate data over and over instead of having to wait years, you know, for another spaceflight opportunity," she said.


Related Links
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News


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SPACE TRAVEL
Cyprus, Austria, Greece have EU's cleanest beaches: agency
Copenhagen (AFP) June 1, 2021
Bathing waters at more than four out of five beaches in the European Union are of "excellent" quality, with Cyprus, Austria and Greece topping a European Environment Agency list published on Tuesday. A total of 82.8 percent of the 22,276 bathing sites studied across Europe in 2020 had "excellent" water quality, while 92.6 percent met the minimun standard, "sufficient". These figures are about two percentage points below those for 2019, the EEA said, attributing it to a greater number of beaches ... read more

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