NASA launches the future of fitness to ISS… and it’s gold & miniature

NASA is launching its all-in-one, downsized, gold-colored fitness machine ‒ the Miniature Exercise Device (MED-2) ‒ to the International Space Station on Tuesday.

The MED-2 will allow astronauts to get necessary exercise without cluttering up the spacecraft with various gym equipment.

Normally, astronauts use three different pieces of exercise equipment – a bike, a treadmill, and the Advanced Restive Exercise Device – to maintain their bone density and muscle mass while in space.

This new compact device will be launched to ISS from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida on Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft. Once there, it will be tested to see how it performs in microgravity and may need to be adapted for a journey to Mars.

The all-encompassing exercise device facilitates both aerobic and resistive workouts.

The mini-machine weighs in at 65 pounds, but can create from 5 to 350 pounds of resistance to adapt to the different “weights” that astronauts can handle.

The MED-2 is self-charging, creating power during an aerobic workout that is then used in the resistance exercises.

It is only one of many devices and experiments be delivered to the ISS on the Cygnus cargo craft.