Flight Equipment Supporting Metabolic Experiments on SLS-1

Five experiments in different aspects of human metabolism will be performed on Spacelab Life Sciences-1. Nine items of equipment from the Life Sciences Laboratory Equipment inventory will be used: the rack-mounted centrifuge, hematocrit centrifuge, low-gravity centrifuge, body mass measurement device, urine monitoring system, Spacelab refrigerator/freezer, Orbiter refrigerator, in-flight blood collection system, and pocket voice recorder. In addition, each experiment will require some specialized equipment such as incubators and culture blocks for an immunology experiment and tracers for a fluid and electrolyte experiment and a hematology experiment. The equipment for these experiments has been developed over many years, in some cases since the Skylab program in the early 1970s, and has been certified for use on the Space Shuttle.