KSC-2010-3226

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency scientist, Yano Sachiko, prepares the fish scale experiment for its flight to the International Space Station aboard the STS-132 mission. Expedition crew members aboard the station will examine regenerating scales collected from anesthetized goldfish in microgravity using the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, or CBEF, and the results will be compared with ground controls. In mammals, bone is formed and maintained by continuous remodeling through bone resorption called osteoclasts, and subsequent new bone formation called osteoblasts. The experiment will use osteoclasts and osteoblasts to examine the effect of microgravity on bone metabolism. Photo credit: NASA_Jack Pfaller