What will do the crew of the ship "Soyuz MS-25" in space, said astronomer, associate professor of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University (Russia) Vladimir Surdin told to the TV channel "Belarus 1".
"The unique conditions of weightlessness allow, for example, to grow perfect crystals. Gravity does not affect them there, their shape does not depend on it there. You can make medicines there. They are often made in crystalline form. There are already drugs that are difficult to create on Earth, but much easier - on board the station flying in weightlessness, - said Vladimir Surdin.
According to him, astronomers also assign astronauts tasks that they cannot perform on Earth.
Vladimir Surdin:
“For example, many types of radiation - X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared - do not pass through the Earth's atmosphere. And only from space we can observe the universe in all these very important ranges of electromagnetic radiation. Our telescopes are aboard the ISS, but they can only be operated by the astronauts who are there. So they still have to master the astronomer's profession as well, and they're really doing it.”
"But the main thing why we launch a man into orbit is to study the man himself there," the astronomer said. - Man is not only an operator, a laboratory assistant, a researcher there, he is also a test animal. Maybe, first of all, he is, roughly speaking, a guinea pig."
