What NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli does on the International Space Station

For Jasmin Moghbeli, the Baldwin-raised NASA astronaut and commander of the SpaceX Crew-7 that arrived at the International Space Station last weekend, the journey involves what one observer described as a very "regimented" six-month mission.

The mission includes a variety of science experiments, on topics ranging from the effects of space on human physiology to the impact of microbes astronauts encounter in space travel. NASA's missions over the decades have led to technological innovations in medicine and engineering, to name a couple.

The International Space Station experience for the astronauts also includes a carefully monitored schedule of eating, sleeping and exercising.

"Every day for them is regimented," said Andrew Parton, president of the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale, which has hosted astronauts, including Moghbeli, over the years to speak with students. "They don't move a muscle without it being on a list of things NASA has them to do: the sleep, the exercise they need to do to keep their bodies in shape in [the] weightlessness" of space.

"Then you have your down time, you can chat with family and read a book, look at videos, eat food that's probably not great but edible," Parton added. He said students who come to the museum for programs about the astronauts "always want to know 'What's your day like?' How do you survive in that small environment for six months?' "

Moghbeli, a graduate of Lenox Elementary School and Baldwin High School, has spoken extensively of her love for science and exploration. She told NASA, in a video shared on the space agency's YouTube channel, that, to her, "It's a human thing to explore. … We're curious beings. We want to know what's out there."

Of the astronauts' research in space, she said, "Ultimately, everything we do is to benefit the Earth."

 Crew-7 consists of Moghbeili, the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov. They joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of seven, increasing the number of astronauts on the space station to 11. But four other members of that Expedition 69 crew are scheduled to leave the station Sunday, a day later than originally planned because of weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida, NASA announced on its website Friday. 

There are more than 200 experiments taking place on the space station to prepare for missions to the moon and Mars, among other destinations, according to NASA.

In late July, before the launch, NASA said some of the experiments the Crew-7 astronauts would be involved in include testing whether humans could carry microbes with them while exploring other planets; 14 experiments that involve collecting physiological and psychological data from the astronauts to determine differences between sleep on Earth and in space; and studying whether "communities of multiple species of bacteria," called biofilms, adhere to and can corrode stainless steel surfaces like those aboard the space station, and examining how well disinfectants can clear those biofilms from surfaces.

The Cold Atom Lab, a long-running experiment on the space station that involves researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, is a unique one. The primary research is conducted by JPL scientists on Earth, with only assistance from the astronauts onboard the space station to make any needed equipment upgrades or equipment repairs, said Calla Cofield, a spokeswoman for Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"It's a pretty incredible engineering feat to make this work remotely," Cofield said in an interview. She said the Cold Atom Lab on the space station, where it has been for five years, is what's called a "quantum facility. The lab is the size of a minifridge."

Cofield said the research involves "cooling clouds of atoms down … You cool it down to absolutely frigid temperatures. And when you do that, you can study quantum behaviors … at microscopic scales."

Cofield said quantum science began about a hundred years ago. That work in quantum physics, she said, has led to the development of "technologies such as transistors, which are in every computer. [And] cellphones require quantum knowledge, GPS [and] MRI machines."

"When we first discovered this in the 1920s and 1930s, scientists had no idea what they could be used for," Cofield said. "Now, today, they are used in a variety of everyday objects."

She said research involving the Cold Atom Lab aboard the space station "is really complicated technology. Once you bring these quantum experiments to space, one of the things you can do is measure gravity with high precision … What the Cold Atom Lab can do is to give us the ability to measure gravity even better, without having to land on a distant moon or planet. You can actually see what's going on underground."

Cofield added, "The Cold Atom Lab won't do that on its own, but by bringing these technologies into space, it's sort of making it possible."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie