When Space ExplorationTechnologies (SpaceX) launched NASA's third contractedcargo resupply mission to the International Space Station April 18, anexperiment designed by University of California,Davis, was among the cargo headed to space.

The experiment, NanoRacks-Comparison of the Growth Rate and DNACharacterization of Microgravity Exposed Microbial Community Samples(NanoRacks-Project MERCCURI), comparesthe growth rates of microbes isolated from samples collected from ground-basedpublic venues both in the microgravity environment of the space station and inthe lab. This study also characterizes the microbial communities found onsurfaces aboard the station using culture-independent methods.

U.S. company SpaceX ofHawthorne, Calif., launched its Dragon spacecraft atop the company's Falcon 9 rocketfrom the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:25 p.m. PDT.

SpaceX developed its Dragoncapsule, the only cargo spacecraft currently servicing the space station withthe capability to return cargo back to Earth, with NASA and now successfullyhas completed three missions to the orbiting outpost. Expedition 39 crewmembers captured the SpaceX-3 Dragon using the station's robotic arm at 7:06a.m. April 20. The capsule is scheduled to remain attached to the station unit for28 days. It then will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean, offthe coast California. It will return samples from scientific investigationscurrently underway aboard the space station.

The InternationalSpace Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation thatdemonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible onEarth. The space station has had continuous human occupation since November2000. In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety ofinternational and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains thespringboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missionsto an asteroid and Mars.

For more informationabout the SpaceX-3 mission and the International Space Station, visit

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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University of California Davis Experiment Launches with NASA Cargo to Space