Any experiment in space quickly reminds you that gravity does a lot of unpaid work on Earth. Without it, even the simplest tasks turn into puzzles. Here, I was extracting samples from bags of microalgae I had been growing for the past two weeks. The challenge: collecting samples without air bubbles. On Earth, you simply flip the syringe and let gravity usher the bubbles politely to the top. In microgravity, they refuse to cooperate—no rising, no settling, just floating wherever they please. The solution: become the centrifuge. Lacking gravity, I provided my own by spinning, using motion to push the liquid toward the syringe tip and persuade the air to move elsewhere. It took a few tries (and a bit of trial-and-error choreography) before it worked. Multiply that process by twelve bags, four samples each, and several spins per sample, and the math becomes clear. Let’s just say I logged an impressive number of rotations that day—proof that in space, science sometimes looks a lot like interpretive dance. #shux #space #axiom4 #shubhanshushukla #india #iss
