Astronauts showcase space art created with childhood cancer patients
The HOPE spacesuit was the first suit created by the Spacesuit Art Project. A third spacesuit, UNITY will be unveiled by the crew of the International Space Station. Photo Credit: MD Anderson Cancer Center / Spacesuit Art Project
Patients from around the world will have the opportunity to see a spacesuit art project they helped create. Astronauts currently living and working on the International Space Station will unveil the project at 10:25 a.m. EDT (14:25 GMT) Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. The 20-minute Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Expedition 52 crew members will answer questions from international partner astronauts and several patients turned artists in Mission Control Houston. In the fall of 2016, spacesuit UNITY was created at cancer hospitals in Houston, Canada, Germany, Russia and Japan with collaboration from astronauts from NASA and its international partners ESA (European Space Agency), Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
Three spacesuits, HOPE, COURAGE and UNITY, were created during the project. The UNITY spacesuit arrived to the station on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Wednesday, Aug. 16 along with more than 6,400 pounds (2,900 kilograms) of supplies and experiments.
The participating hospitals that helped create the UNITY spacesuit were:
- University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
- Southlake Regional Health Centre, Toronto
- Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal
- University Hospital Cologne International Cancer Center, Cologne, Germany
- The Moscow Institute for Pediatric Oncology, Moscow
- St. Luke’s International University and Juntendo Hospital, Tokyo
- Children’s Medical Center, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo
Follow the Space Suit Art Project on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Spacesuitart.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
Video courtesy of MD Anderson Cancer Center
Press Release
The preceding is a press or news release either issued by one of the space agencies or by an aerospace firm or organization. The views expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of SpaceFlight Insider.
