Cancer risk in space due to radiation assessed by determining cell lethality and mutation frequencies of prokaryotes and a plasmid during the Second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) Space Shuttle experiment

We participated in a space experiment conducted during the 2nd International Microgravity Laboratory Mission (IML-2) project. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of space radiation, i.e., high-LET (linear energy transfer) cosmic radiation, on living organisms in the 'Realtime Radiation Monitoring Device (RRMD)'. The biological samples, dried E. coli DNA repair-deficient mutant cells and shuttle vector plasmid pZ189 DNA, were prepared and placed in a biospecimen box sandwiched between 'Harzlas' plastic radiation detectors. This box was then loaded into the RRMD sensor unit in the Space Shuttle 'Columbia' and an identical box was left in the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as a control. 'Columbia' (flight No. STS-65) was launched from KSC in Florida, USA on July 8, 1994. The mission duration was 14.75 days and after 'Columbia' returned to earth, we studied (i) the lethal and mutagenic effects of high-LET cosmic radiation on E. coli mutants and (ii) the relationship between high-LET cosmic radiation and the mutation frequency of pZ189 DNA. There were virtually no differences between the cell viabilities of the space and control samples of Escherichia coli KMBL3835 (wild-type), KY383 (lexA(-)), KY385 (recA(-)) and KY386 (uvrA(-)), nor between the mutation frequency ratios of the space and control E. coli mutant samples. Furthermore, the survival and mutation frequency of the supF gene of pZ189 DNA space samples did not differ from those of the control samples. We concluded there was no cancer risk during this Space Shuttle flight.