The small scientific experiment, known as a payload, is scheduled to be carried there on NASA's SpaceX CRS-30 resupply mission on March 15.
Kessans is researching protein crystallisation, a technique used by scientists to understand protein structures and what they look like.
"Protein crystallography allows researchers to get detailed structural data of proteins," said Kessans.
"These pictures allow us to better understand diseases and develop new medicines."
It will study protein crystal growth in space as the scientists analyse how experiments work in gravity compared to microgravity.
Kessans went through NASA's astronaut selection programme herself seven years ago, getting all the way to the final 50 from an initial pool of 18,000 candidates.
"It really changed my perspective as to the value of microgravity research and doing research on the space station.
"So, since then, I really shifted quite a bit of the research that I do. So really being able to drive this here in New Zealand has been just a huge honour."
It's a partnership with commercial space company, Axiom Space, alongside teams here and in the United States.
"So, we've got hardware engineers from Asteria here in Christchurch, software engineers from Intranel here in Christchurch, UC's Mechanical Engineering department."
She believes it is an exciting time to be part of the aerospace industry.
Kessans and her team head to Florida next week to watch the launch of the SpaceX mission from the Kennedy Space Centre.
-By Emily O'Hagan, made with the support of NZ On Air
