What Can Astronaut Spit Tell Us?

What can astronauts’ saliva tell us about the innerworkings of the human body during spaceflight? Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim demonstrates how a small task—like collecting saliva samples—can provide big insights, keeping crews healthy as we prepare for missions to the Moon and beyond. Learn more about NASA’s Human Research Program: www.nasa.gov/hrp Credit: NASA Join NASA as we go forward to the Moon and on to Mars -- discover the latest on Earth, the Solar System and beyond with a weekly update in your inbox. Subscribe at: https://www.nasa.gov/subscribe

What is said in the film

Hi, I'm NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and today, I'm going to demonstrate how we collect saliva for science purposes. The reason we do this is because one of the things that NASA scientists and researchers are interested in is how our immune system changes over time, especially during long-duration spaceflights. The actual sample taking normally occurs inside my crew quarters, because it's the first thing I'm going to do before I eat, drink, brush my teeth. As soon as I wake up, I'm going to take a saliva sample. So once I have my saliva session pack, I'm going to go get my salivette here.

And with aseptic technique, meaning I'm not going to contaminate it with either my fingers or the environment, I'm going to carefully open up the Ziploc. Again, being careful not to reach inside with the finger. And I'm going to squeeze a salivette out. And you're just going to keep it rolling in your mouth for a period of time. Once you have it sufficiently moistened, you're going to then, with similar aseptic technique, put the salivette back into the bag without touching either the inside of the bag or the salivette.

Now, collecting our saliva and preserving them throughout our mission timeline helps give a snapshot to researchers of what our immune system is doing during our long-duration spaceflight.

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