RR-23 Mission: Mouse Gut Microbiome Data from 38-Day Spaceflight

NASA's RR-23 mission dataset contains metagenomic profiles from fecal samples of C57BL/6J mice exposed to 38 days of microgravity on the International Space Station. The data includes 9 samples each from Flight, Habitat Ground Control, and Vivarium Ground Control groups, collected in January 2021. Sequencing targeted 10 million clusters per sample with paired-end 250 base pair reads.

Use Cases

• Comparative analysis of microbial community shifts based on the three experimental groups (Flight, HGC, VGC).
• Modeling the impact of long-duration microgravity on gut flora based on the 38-day mission timeline.
• Investigating potential biomarkers for spaceflight-induced physiological changes based on metagenomic sequencing data.

Strengths

• Includes controlled ground groups (20 HGC and 20 VGC mice) for comparison with the 20 flight mice.
• Samples were preserved by flash freezing in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C, suggesting high-quality nucleic acid preservation.
• Sequencing was performed with a defined target depth of 10 million clusters per sample.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset features 27 sequenced samples (9 per group), which is a subset of the 60 total animals in the study.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Feces were collected from mice after a 38-day spaceflight mission on the ISS, preserved, and sequenced.

Time Range

Sample collection and euthanasia occurred on January 14th, 17th, and 20th of 2021.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:47:57.101848; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Samples were collected from mice at Texas A&M University after return from the ISS via Kennedy Space Center.