NASA has given a new mission to the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station. The space mission, originally planned for 8 days, was extended to 8 months, causing an unprecedented disruption. Trying to make their time on the station meaningful with new and different tasks, the astronauts will search for life on the exterior of the station during spacewalks. The samples collected will be analyzed later on Earth. Understanding whether microorganisms can survive the harsh conditions of space could support the theory that life did not begin on Earth.
The collection of samples from outside the station is part of the External Microorganisms experiment, which is clearly a NASA project examining microorganisms outside the space station.
The collected samples will later be analyzed on Earth.
Astronauts will inevitably spend some more time at the International Space Station before returning to Earth with the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
