Human spaceflight is entering a new era. The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) will be completed in 2010.2 Supported by a full six-person crew for the first time, it is ready to put its full capabilities to work. While the ISS partners can be proud of having completed one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever conceived, the world at large also will judge the ISS by what is achieved in the utilization phase. In short, the full success of the ISS Program depends on the utilization achievements in the coming years. The people of countries participating in the ISS will expect no less. For more than 15 years, the ISS partnership mastered financial and technical challenges, and weathered changes in national policies and governments. This mastery proves that nations can persist and achieve ambitious long-term goals that are very difficult. The ISS partnership is a model of what will be needed if an ambitious program of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) is to move forward. The present partnership can be enriched by collaboration as we prepare for human exploration beyond Earth's neighborhood, to develop supporting technology, and to explore possible relationships with emerging space agencies. Aside from the ISS itself, the international partnership represents an invaluable achievement. Extension of ISS operations to 2020 and beyond is crucial to maximize use of the ISS facilities. A longer operational phase provides opportunities for new participants who may never have thought of using the ISS. A commitment to extended operations enables programs with long-term objectives, and encourages institutions on Earth to support projects in space. Perhaps most importantly, extended utilization allows opportunities to explore the ISS as a research platform and to realize its full potential. Unique attributes of the ISS that enable research and development (R&D) never before achieved include: (1) continuous access to microgravitya and defined partial gravity, enabling experiments with gravity as a controlled experimental variable; (2) high vacuum and the conditions to create ultra-high vacuum, enabling experiments that would be otherwise compromised by trace molecular species; (3) continuous presence in the space environment, enabling long experiment runs and cumulative sets of experiments; (4) significant power and instrument support services at a low-altitude (310-410 km) vantage point over 90% of the populated surface of the Earth, enabling use of the ISS as a platform for observations of Earth, Earth's atmosphere, and space processes; (5) daily human support and transportation resources enabling testing, modification, and incremental development of R&D test beds, instruments, and research programs. The benefits of ISS can be viewed from many different perspectives. As for other unique laboratories, long lead times to discovery can be associated with the many different disciplines that use the ISS. As scientists representing this broad array of disciplines, the ISS partner nations, and future utilization by all scientists worldwide, we met to discuss R&D on the ISS as the utilization era begins. We have captured the major disciplines, key questions, advantages of the ISS platform, and implications of ISS utilization for advancement of knowledge. The products of the discussion are a vision for the “Era of International Space Station Utilization,” with supporting descriptions of the importance of the ISS to key R&D goals. We are certain that in the century to come, the full utilization of the ISS will be seen as having made transformative contributions to a number of scientific disciplines.
This report summarizes research accomplishments on the International Space Station (ISS) through the first 15 Expeditions. When research programs for early Expeditions were established, five administrative organizations were executing research on ISS: bioastronautics research, fundamental space biology, physical science, space product development, and space flight. The Vision for Space Exploration led to changes in NASA's administrative structures, so we have grouped experiments topically by scientific themes—human research for exploration, physical and biological sciences, technology development, observing the Earth, and educating and inspiring the next generation—even when these do not correspond to the administrative structure at the time at which they were completed. The research organizations at the time at which the experiments flew are preserved in the appendix of this document. These investigations on the ISS have laid the groundwork for research planning for Expeditions to come. Humans performing scientific investigations on ISS serve as a model for the goals of future Exploration missions. The success of a wide variety of investigations is an important hallmark of early research on ISS. Of the investigations summarized here, some are completed with results released, some are completed with preliminary results, and some remain ongoing. The International Space Station (ISS) celebrated 10 years of operations in November 2008. Today, it is more than a human outpost in low Earth orbit (LEO). It is also an international science laboratory hosting state-of-the-art scientific facilities that support fundamental and applied research across the range of physical and biological sciences. The launch of the first ISS element in 1998, the Russian Zarya module, was a highly visible milestone for international cooperation in human exploration. Later, when the first international crew that included Bill Shepard, Sergei Krikalev, and Yuri Gidzenko, moved into the ISS to establish a continuous human presence in space, a new, global chapter in the history of human space flight was opened. As of this writing, 18 multinational crews comprising 52 astronauts and cosmonauts have called the ISS their home and workplace since November 2000. Dozens more have visited and assisted construction and science activities. While the ISS did not support permanent human crews during the first 2 years of operations (November 1998 to November 2000), it hosted a few early science experiments months before the first international crew took up residence. Since that time—and simultaneous with the complicated task of ISS construction and overcoming impacts from the tragic Columbia accident—science returns from the ISS have been growing at a steady pace. From Expedition 0 through 15, 138 experiments have been operated on the ISS, supporting research for hundreds of ground-based investigators from the U.S. and International Partners. Many experiments are carried forward over several ISS increments, allowing for additional experimental runs and data collection. This report focuses on the experimental results collected to date, including scientific publications from studies that are based on operational data. NASA's priorities for research aboard the ISS center on understanding human health during long-duration missions, researching effective countermeasures for long-duration crewmembers, and researching and testing new technologies that can be used for future Exploration crews and spacecraft. Most research also supports new understandings, methods, or applications that are relevant to life on Earth, such as understanding effective protocols to protect against loss of bone density or better methods for producing stronger metal alloys. Experiment results have already been used in applications as diverse as the manufacture of solar cell and insulation materials for new spacecraft and the verification of complex numerical models for behavior of fluids in fuel tanks.
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