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a Window into the Brain The ISS National
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News & Updates

Orbital Edge Accelerator sponsor and partner support recognition for the 2026 program.

September 22, 2026

Industry Leaders Drive Growth of 2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator

"When I think about our milestone of 1,000 payloads, what stands out is the incredible range of people and ideas behind it,"...

Press Releases  

CASIS celebrates 15 years of managing the ISS National Laboratory and more than 1,000 payloads delivered.

September 2, 2026

ISS National Lab Reaches 1,000-Payload Milestone as CASIS Celebrates 15 Years of Leadership

"When I think about our milestone of 1,000 payloads, what stands out is the incredible range of people and ideas behind it,"...

Press Releases  

Brain organoids grown in Alysson Muotri’s lab cluster in a culture dish.

August 18, 2026

Brain Organoid Studies on the ISS Move Closer to New Treatments

A feature in Upward, the official magazine of the ISS National Laboratory®, follows two research teams using brain organoids in...

Press Releases  

2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator Cohort

August 12, 2026

Eight Emerging Startups Selected for ISS National Lab’s Orbital Edge Accelerator Program

The program is being conducted in partnership with returning global investment partners Cook Inlet Region, Inc., E2MC, and...

Press Releases  

The REACCH system at NASA's Ames Research Center for preflight testing.

July 16, 2026

Orbital “Tow Truck” Could Tackle Space Debris Problem

Through ISS National Laboratory-sponsored testing, Kall Morris Inc. successfully demonstrated its REACCH system, a robotic...

Press Releases  

LambdaVision CEO Nicole Wagner working with bacteriorhodopsin, the purple protein used to create the company's artificial retinas.

June 10, 2026

Biotech Startup Turns to Space to Manufacture Artificial Retinas for Treating Blindness

Artificial retinas produced in microgravity show markedly improved uniformity, optical performance, and reproducibility compared...

Press Releases  

Tiffany Hennessa (left), U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) research biologist, and Zheng Wang, NRL research biologist, analyze a microbial sample in Washington, D.C. Scientists at NRL sent microbial samples to the ISS to investigate how microgravity affects microbial metabolism and biomaterial production.

June 4, 2026

Microbes Reveal Missing Link in Space Manufacturing

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) studied engineered Escherichia coli designed to produce melanin, a...

Press Releases  

ISS National Lab panel, "Space Research for a Healthy Future," at ASCEND 2026 in Washington, D.C., May 19.

May 29, 2026

Looking to the Future from a Space-based Lab

Collectively, the sessions underscored the pivotal role the orbiting laboratory has played in advancing science, enabling...

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International Space Station National Laboratory
17 hours ago
Before going to spac

Before going to space, an early version of the ELVIS holographic microscope tumbled out of a car trunk on the side of Mount St. Helens.

One graduate student called it “accidental stress testing.”

The amazing thing: the microscope still worked.

That durability matters for an instrument designed for extreme environments. Developed by researchers at Portland State University, ELVIS is a prototype that could one day help scientists search for life beyond Earth, including in the hidden oceans of Europa and Enceladus.

Read the full story: ow.ly/7MTc50ZPEIb

Seen here: The research team’s base camp at Mount St. Helens, where Jay Nadeau and colleagues field-tested an early version of their microscope.

#Astrobiology #SpaceScience #ISS
#Microgravity #Europa #Enceladus #ISSNationalLab ... See MoreSee Less

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The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory

Solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges through space-based research.

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Upward Volume 9, Issue 2
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EXPLORE RESULTS FROM RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN SPACE

Upward Volume 9, Issue 2 Available Now

In this issue’s cover story, discover how brain organoids on the ISS are helping researchers study aging, neurodegeneration, and disease-relevant changes linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Rett syndrome. Other features discuss how unexpected findings from Sanofi’s space research could help improve vaccines and how a new holographic microscope could one day help scientists find life on distant worlds.

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Photo documentation of the Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) platform aboard the International Space Station.

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National Lab research announcements (NLRAs) seek proposals that advance R&D in key areas with demonstrated potential to develop into sustainable markets and benefit humanity.

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NASA astronaut Karen Nyberger, Expedition 36 flight engineer, watches a water bubble float freely between her and the camera, showing her image refracted in the droplet, while in the Node 1Unity module of the International Space Station.

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