Nothing Is as Cool as Sequencing DNA in Space. Just Ask Kate Rubins

[Narrator] So firing toward the

International Space Station at 17,000 miles per hour

probably didn't seem like such a big deal to Kate Rubins.

(peaceful music)

That's cause she is no stranger to inhospitable places.

As a biologist she's worked in the Congo

doing fieldwork on Monkeypox and handled some of

the worlds most dangerous pathogens

in a biosafety level four facility.

That launch was back in July.

Rubins recently returned to Earth after four months

of serious work on the Space Station.

Specifically, of the genetic variety.

Rubins and her astronaut cohort set out to determine if

they could sequence DNA in microgravity.

Because the only thing cooler than

sequencing DNA on Earth is doing it in space.

Incredibly, it worked.

In fact the sequencing actually turned out better in space.

After we go done with the tech-dev part of it,

we really shot right out of the gate and ended up sequencing

a little bit over two billion base pairs

by the time I'd left.

[Narrator] Rubins also ran experiments

for culturing cells.

Seeing how the microbes are evolving

in the microgravity of space.

But working with such sensitive experiments in microgravity

is a whole lot different than on Earth.

The big delta is you're floating and

you're controlling your motion with your feet

while you're doing cell culture.

[Astonaut] There Rubins now coming out of the

Quest Airlock to join Williams just outside.

[Narrator] Rubins even got the chance

to work outside, in the fresh air.

On two space walks.

As in, highly choreographed spacewalks

she spent hundreds of hours practicing.

You're working very very hard,

but there's a few minutes here and there

where the ground is maybe talking about something

or you have to put your tools down and wait,

and just getting a chance to look through your visor

and see the planet go by was incredible.

[Narrator] But all good space things must come to an end.

On Saturday, Rubins boarded a Soyuz spacecraft

with astronauts from Russia and Japan,

and plummeted back to Earth.

After the initial shock of the parachutes deploying,

she says the trip was relatively peaceful.

But you're just a little bit along for the ride.

And then there's another huge impact when you land,

that's about like a car crash.

And the capsule bounces and rolls a little bit,

and everything settles down at some point

and we looked out the window and we saw dirt.

And so, we were pretty sure that

we'd hit planet Earth at that point.

[Narrator] And thank the stars that.

Welcome home Rubins.