Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Become an OU student

Download this course

Share this free course

Microgravity: living on the International Space Station
Microgravity: living on the International Space Station

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Microgravity: living on the International Space Station

Introduction and guidance

Welcome to this free course, Microgravity: living on the International Space Station. The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study.

You will be able to test your understanding of the course through the weekly interactive quizzes, of which Weeks 4 and 8 will provide you with an opportunity to earn a badge to demonstrate your new skills. You can read more on how to study the course and about badges in the next sections.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  • understand what microgravity is and the difference between mass and weight
  • explain the types of scientific research that can benefit from microgravity environments, focusing on ageing
  • explain the types of scientific research that can benefit from microgravity environments, focusing on bacterial resistance and planet formation
  • understand some key concepts and principles that underpin scientific knowledge and why it is important to continue to ask moral questions about scientific research.

Moving around the course

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Course content’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course. Alternatively, use the week links at the top of every page of the course.

It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.