Scientist becomes first NASA-funded researcher to conduct own experiment in space

A university professor is about to venture out of this world to carry out a science experiment decades in the making.

Robert Ferl, director of the University of Florida's UF Astraeus Space Institute, will be aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard capsule on Thursday when it launches into space in a bid to test the effect of microgravity on cells, specifically what happens to biology as it leaves the surface of the Earth for space and then returns, he told ABC News.

Ferl will be on the Blue Origin flight for 15 minutes as it departs from Launch Site One in West Texas before entering space -- past the Karman line, about 62 miles above the Earth's surface -- and returning to Earth.

Also on board the flight will be eight very specialized fixation tubes that serve as a "highly contained, safe environment" for the plants that the researchers will monitor, Ferl said. Two will be activated before the flight; two during the flight; two just after the booster finishes getting the aircraft into space and they enter microgravity; two just before reentering Earth's atmosphere, and two more once the crew lands back on the ground.

"This will give us the ability to sample the four very critical parts of the flight regime in order to understand the transition that biology experiences at the molecular level during the various parts of the flight," Ferl said.

While Ferl is in space, his colleagues will be on the ground monitoring the activity of the cells in real-time, Anna-Lisa Paul, director of the University of Florida's Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, told ABC News.

This is the first time that NASA has funded an experiment that allows the researcher to conduct the experiment in space, as opposed to a professional NASA astronaut, Ferl said. Ferl and Paul wrote the proposal for the experiment for NASA about seven years ago.

In order to prepare, both Ferl and Paul have flown on parabolic aircraft and experienced zero-gravity force for long periods of time in short increments. Other physical training has included flying in fighter jets under high-gravity or low-gravity conditions, as well as several simulations of the Blue Origin flight.

The rigorous planning has allowed the researchers to operate the experiment at precision-level timing, Ferl said.

Many experiments have already been conducted aboard the International Space Station or inside a space shuttle that involve sending up seeds and growing plants in that environment, Paul said. But this is the first time researchers will effectively see how biological organisms -- in this case, plants -- respond to the transition from a terrestrial environment to a spaceflight environment.

The research is the latest in a long line of experiments dedicated to using commercial suborbital vehicles to understand the biology of the cells as they move from Earth to space, Ferl said.

"These suborbital flights allow us to now sample how plants are responding at that transition before they fully adjust," Paul said.

The main purpose of the experiment will be to learn how organisms respond to a situation that takes them off their home planet, Paul said. Doing so will allow humans to work on the moon or in orbital environments, such as Mars, for long periods, she added.

Plants are a "foundational component" for supporting humans off planet Earth, Paul said. Because they can provide food but also recycle water and air, understanding how plants respond to space flight will allow humans to better rely on them when they leave the planet, she said.

The experiment will blaze the trail for future astronaut scientists as space travel becomes more widely available.

"Our science is dedicated to working towards a deeper understanding of what happens to life when it leaves the surface of the Earth," Ferl said.