July 2025
Welcome to Space Station Spotlight, a monthly newsletter from the ISS National Laboratory®. Here’s where you can find all the latest R&D happenings on the space station, see what our partners are up to, and learn how to elevate your research to new heights by leveraging the unique space environment.
What’s new at the ISS National Lab?
At ASCEND 2025 in Las Vegas, new content highlighted the critical role of the ISSInternational Space Station National Lab in advancing R&D in low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. (LEO). The new partnership between the ISS National Lab and AIAA will continue at ASCEND 2026 during “Space Week” in Washington, D.C.
Rose Hernandez, ISS National Lab science program director of advanced materials and manufacturing, discusses the importance of continued support for space-based semiconductor R&D for the U.S. to maintain its global technological leadership.
In the perspective piece, originally published in Space News, LambdaVision CEO Nicole Wagner discusses how budget cuts to the ISS Program would threaten the stability of the LEO economy and the commercialization of potential life-saving therapies being developed and tested in space.
One features some of the unique mission patches the ISS National Lab has created with partners over the years. The other highlights some of the ISS National Lab-sponsored research projects that are driving meaningful progress with results that could change our world.
On this episode of Between a Rocket & a Hard Space, hear from Fincke and Cardman as they gear up for their upcoming Crew-11 mission to the ISS. Finke reflects on returning to the station he helped assemble more than a decade ago, and Cardman shares her excitement as she prepares for her first journey to space.
Partner News
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was named Interim NASA Administrator. In December, President Trump nominated private astronaut Jared Isaacman to serve as NASA Administrator, but withdrew the nomination in May.
NASA+ live programming is now available on Netflix. Audiences can stream rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, mission coverage, and live views of Earth from the ISS. By partnering with Netflix, which reaches a global audience of more than 700 million people, NASA aims to make the agency’s live programming more accessible.
Redwire successfully tested a solar array deployment for NASA’s lunar Gateway. The companycompleted the first deployment test for one of its Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) for the lunar Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). Redwire’s Gateway ROSAs will generate an unprecedented 60kW, making them the most powerful ROSAs ever built.
A new SpaceX program could use Starship to develop commercial products in space. According to reports, Starship would carry small, uncrewed capsules containing components, such as those for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Once in space, the rocket would deploy the capsules, where they would spend time in orbit before falling back to Earth for recovery.
Varda Space announced it raised $187 million in Series C funding to produce medicines in space. The company launched its first mission, W-1, in 2023 and has since completed three launch and return missions, with a fourth currently in orbit and a fifth expected to launch before the end of the year. Varda plans to use the new funding to develop a lab that leverages microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. to create new drug formulations not possible on Earth.
INVESTMENT NEWS
The ISS National Lab’s Orbital Edge Accelerator program selected six startups. Each startup will receive up to $500,000 in investment, along with mentorship and the opportunity to launch an ISS National Lab-sponsored investigation. By bridging the gap between early-stage companies and space-based innovation, the accelerator aims to unlock discoveries that benefit humanity and drive new commercial opportunities in LEO.
Results
The most recent issue of Upward, official magazine of the ISS National Lab, is online. Explore valuable findings from space-based R&D—download the current and past issues here.
A startup leveraged the ISS to advance technology for the future interplanetary Internet. Spatiam Corporation validated a platform to enable networking for future commercial space stations, bases on the Moon, and even missions to Mars. Read the Upward feature “Interplanetary Internet” to learn more and to hear from one of the two “fathers of the Internet” about the future of communications across the solar system.
Results related to ISS National Lab-sponsored research could lead to more efficient water treatment.When exposed to UV light, organic matter in water produces chemicals that help break down pollutants. Researchers developed a new method to measure these chemicals and found that certain types of UV light increase the chemicals produced. These results were published in the top-tier journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Members of the ISS National Lab science team co-authored a perspective in Stem Cell Reports on biomanufacturing in LEO. The article, authored together with leading researchers in regenerative medicine, highlights how ISS studies are accelerating breakthroughs in stem cell research and tissue engineering.
Redwire Space and Columbia University published an article on the scientific and economic impacts of ISS research. The paper, published in npj Microgravity, analyzed publications and patents from researchers that conducted research on the ISS. The authors found that the outcomes from the space-based research were “significantly more impactful” than the outcomes of similar research done by the same researchers on Earth.
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