CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Miniature human organs are on their way to the International Space Station for the first time, in an experiment researchers hope will reveal how spaceflight affects the body and why living in space appears to speed up aging.

The tiny lab-grown hearts and brains launched Tuesday morning aboard SpaceX's CRS-35 commercial resupply mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They are expected to arrive at the space station Thursday.

The project is a joint effort by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NASA and aerospace company Space Tango.

Studying space's toll on the body

Astronauts age faster in space because microgravity and increased radiation exposure harm multiple systems in the body, particularly on long-duration missions.

"If people are going to be living and working in space, then we need to understand what's going to happen to them," David Sachs, an assistant professor of surgery at Mount Sinai, told ABC News. "But also, because it's interesting as a model of accelerated aging for studying people on Earth."

Kevin Costa, an associate professor of surgery at Mount Sinai, said the effects can be dramatic.

"Six months in space ... is equivalent to about 10 to 20 years of aging on Earth," Costa told ABC News.

That accelerated timeline gives........

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