Photos

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SAN DIEGO (April 11, 2026) USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) returns to port after recovering NASA’s Artemis II crew and their spacecraft, Integrity. Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) supported post-flight engineering and science activities for the ‘A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response’ (AVATAR) project. AVATAR studied four bone marrow organ chips made from tissue donated from each of the Artemis II crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. AVATAR examined the impact of microgravity and radiation exposure on human cell biology in deep space and represents a historic milestone as the first organ chip experiment deployed beyond Earth's Van Allen Belts. NHRC, part of Navy Medicine Research & Development, supports Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health readiness and lethality with research and development that delivers high-value, high-impact solutions to the health and readiness challenges U.S. military population faces on the battlefield, at-sea, home and abroad. (U.S. Navy photo by Matthew Reyes/released)