(CHAPEL HILL) -- The final flight of the Space Shuttle is scheduled for Friday and NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill have an experiment on board. Dr. Ted Bateman is in charge of the study and said astronauts will perform experiments on mice being carried on the mission.

"We're going to be examining their bone mass and the bone loss that we expect that space flight will cause and we're working with the biotechnology company, Amgen to test a potentially new osteoporosis therapy that we expect will prevent the bone loss or encourage more bone formation, new bone growth," said Bateman.

Bateman's project also includes colleagues at the University of Colorado and Harvard University. He has been involved with several shuttle experiments over the years.