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.

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What’s new at the ISS National Lab?

The ISS National Lab website was redesigned to be more user-centric.

The website now includes specific paths for four groups of key users (researchers and partners, students and educators, space novices and enthusiasts, and investors) to better enable engagement and learning.

SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts-from top to bottom-NASA's Jeanette Epps, Mike Barratt, and Matthew Dominick, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin onboard the ISS between the Harmony module's space-facing port and the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.

Astronauts of NASA’s eighth rotational SpaceX crew mission (Crew-8) returned to Earth safely.

After seven months of living and working on station, including conducting dozens of ISS National Lab-sponsored investigations, the Crew-8 astronauts splashed down off the coast of Florida.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft atop, at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on March 19, 2024, in preparation for the 30th commercial resupply services launch to the ISS.

The ISS National Lab and NASA hosted a science pre-launch webinar for the SpaceX CRS-31 mission.

Media attended the webinar to learn how research launching on this mission enables innovation, benefits humanity, and drives a sustainable market economy in low Earth orbit.

Partner News

Vast unveiled the interior design features of its Haven-1 commercial space station. Haven-1 is designed to host up to four astronauts at a time and combines state-of-the-art research facilities with a dedication to human-centric elements. Vast also released the design of Haven-2, an evolved version of Haven-1, as a potential successor of the ISS.

Sierra Space will study how its Ghost reentry spacecraft could provide cost-effective delivery services. The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Sierra Space a contract to explore how Ghost could provide point-to-point delivery for government and commercial customers with standardized payload sizes.

In FY23, NASA generated nearly $76 billion for the U.S. economy with 0.5% of the federal budget. In NASA’s fiscal year 2023 report, the agency underscored how technology developed for space impacts the daily lives of people on Earth through advances in healthcare, transportation, energy, public safety, and industrial production.

Elon Musk said SpaceX plans to launch five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in two years. If the uncrewed missions land safely, Musk said the company will launch crewed missions in four years.

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission validated the Orion spacecraft’s radiation shielding for astronaut protection. A recent publication in the journal Nature details findings from a study analyzing radiation data collected using sensors inside the Orion spacecraft during the 25-day Artemis 1 mission. The AstroRad radiation shielding vest was also tested on this mission.

Results

The latest 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.

ISS research from Clemson University could help revolutionize cotton production on Earth. Read the Upward feature “Cotton Revolution: Unlocking New Cotton Varieties for a Sustainable Future” to see how the team leveraged microgravity to enhance plant cell regeneration to overcome current barriers in gene editing. Results could speed up the development of new cotton varieties with improved traits, such as disease resistance and higher yields.

Results from MicroQuin’s space-based research could lead to groundbreaking new cancer treatments. Read the Upward feature “Orbital Oncology” to find out how the company’s research on 3D breast and prostate cancer cell cultures uncovered something critical to cancer cell survival that could lead to a way to treat all cancers. In a special “View From the Cupola,” Upward managing editor Amelia Smith shares her perspective on these outstanding results and how the research became personal with her own breast cancer diagnosis.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center researchers published results from ISS stem cell research. In partnership with Axiom Space, the investigation successfully cultured induced pluripotent stem cells in commercially available cell culturing hardware that provides surface tension, laying the groundwork for future space-based biomanufacturing research.

Upward Volume 7, Issue 2 Cover

Workforce Development and STEM Education

In preparation for SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply services launch to the ISS, Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft atop, stands at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in November 2023.

Nearly 40 student-led research projects are launching to the ISS on SpaceX CRS-31. The projects were developed by students participating in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), an ISS National Lab educational partner program that integrates the research process into the classroom to help prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers. 

A new report from the Space Foundation shows a rapidly expanding space workforce. According to the report, the space sector added more than 26,000 jobs between 2022 and 2023 in the US, Japan, India, and Europe. This is about four times the number of workers added the year prior, with the global space economy nearly doubling in size over the past decade.

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