Analysis of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Experiment on the Electhophoretic Separation of Fixed Red Blood Cells

Abstract

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) carried out in July, 1975 included an electrophoretic separation experiment of biological cells (MA-011). The nature of these experiments was to determine if biological separations could be carried out in space under microgravity conditions and with better resolution than obtainable on earth. The experiments consisted of a series of static and isotacho electrophoresis experiments in which mixtures of aldehyde-fixed red blood cells, B and T lymphocytes, and urokinase producing kidney cells were separated. The separation results of the aldehyde-fixed rabbit, human and horse red blood cells, which were taken in the form of photographs taken at three-minute intervals in columns 1 and 5, are the subject of this report.