20 Breakthroughs from 20 Years

• Fundamental Disease Research: Space station research contributes to understanding diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Cancer, Asthma, and Heart Disease.
• Discovery of Steadily Burning Cool Flames: The Flame Extinguishing Experiment (FLEX) revealed fuel droplets burning without visible flames at cooler temperatures.
• New Water Purification Systems: Space station technology helps provide clean water to at-risk areas, recycling 93% of water for astronauts.
• Drug Development Using Protein Crystals: Protein crystal experiments on the ISS offer insights into disease treatments.
• Methods to Combat Muscle Atrophy and Bone Loss: ISS studies aid in understanding and mitigating bone and muscle loss, applicable to conditions like osteoporosis.
• Exploring the Fifth State of Matter: NASA's Cold Atom Lab on the ISS produces a Bose-Einstein condensate, shedding light on quantum mechanics.
• Understanding How Our Bodies Change in Microgravity: Long-term ISS stays reveal how the human body adapts to microgravity.
• Testing Tissue Chips in Space: ISS experiments with tissue chips help understand microgravity's impact on human health.
• Stimulating the Low-Earth Orbit Economy: The ISS contributes to a growing commercial space economy worth over $345 billion.
• Growing Food in Microgravity: Techniques for growing food in space help prepare for long-duration missions.
• Deployment of CubeSats from Station: Over 250 CubeSats have been launched from the ISS, advancing space research.
• Monitoring Our Planet from Space: The ISS serves as a platform for studying Earth's water, air, land, and vegetation.
• Collecting Data on Cosmic Particles: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 on the ISS collects data to understand the universe's composition.
• Understanding Pulsars and Black Holes: Instruments like NICER and MAXI on the ISS enhance knowledge of celestial objects.
• Student Access to an Orbiting Laboratory: The ISS offers students opportunities to conduct microgravity experiments.
• Identifying Unknown Microbes in Space: The Genes in Space-3 project enables real-time microbe identification in space.
• Advancements in Colloid Research: Colloid research on the ISS impacts diverse fields like toothpaste, 3D printing, and pharmaceuticals.
• Evolution of Fluid Physics Research: ISS fluid studies progress from fundamental research to practical applications.
• 3D Printing in Microgravity: The first item was 3D printed on the space station in 2014, exploring printing with recycled materials and human tissue.
• Responding to Natural Disasters: Crew imagery from the ISS supports global disaster response efforts.