By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 06:37 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 10:31 EST, 28 June 2012

Space Station astronauts captured images of rare 'night shining' clouds as the craft passed over the Tibetan Plateau - high-altitude clouds which appear as delicate, shining threads against the darkness of space.

The clouds can only be seen from aircraft in flight, from the Space Station, or rarely from the ground at twilight - and shine at night because the ice crystals are lit up by the sun from beneath the visible horizon.

The clouds can only be seen from aircraft in flight, from the Space Station, or rarely from the ground at twilight - and shine at night because the ice crystals are lit up by the sun from beneath the visible horizon

The clouds - called 'polar mesospheric' clouds or 'noctilucent', night-shining clouds were photographed on June 13 by the crew of the ISS using a Nikon D2X.

In both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, during their respective late spring and early summer seasons, polar mesospheric clouds are at the peak of their visibility.

On June 13, 2012, when this image was taken from the ISS as it passed over the Tibetan Plateau, polar mesospheric clouds were also visible to aircraft flying over Canada.

In addition to the still image above, the ISS crew took a time-lapse image sequence of polar mesospheric clouds several days earlier (June 5) while passing over western Asia. It is first such sequence of images of the phenomena taken from orbit.

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Ripples in the sky: Space Station astronaut captures mysterious 'night shining' clouds over Tibetan plateau

DENVER It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said Tuesday (June 26).

"We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference.

Science experiments on the space station have been under way since the outpost's early days, of course. Construction of the orbiting laboratory began in 1998, and there has been a continuous human presence on the station since 2000. Now, however, there is little left to build and many opportunities to exploit, according to NASA speakers, who encouraged scientists to spread the word.

"We need to really reach out and push and use that same creativity and innovation that we used to build this wonderful facility to actually utilize it," Gerstenmaier said. [Infographic: The International Space Station Inside and Out]

In May, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule successfully docked with the space station, becoming the first commercial spacecraft in history to do so. With SpaceX and other private companies providing transportation, private research companies will have the routine access they need to commit to space research, Gerstenmaier said. Meanwhile, upgrades like Earth-compatible power outlets and wireless internet connectivity will make it easier for terrestrially bound scientists to create experiments that will work in space, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS Program Director.

Keeping humans in space

The human component to space exploration was at the forefront in NASA officials' messages. Human experimenters can be part of experiments, making observations in a way that an automated system never could, said NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati. And human perseverance can also yield surprising results.

For example, now-retired astronaut Shannon Lucid was once conducting a fluid physics experiment on the Russian research satellite Mir, Gerstenmaier said. Her job was to shake a container of liquid in an attempt to form a bubble in a certain spot. Based on computer models, researchers were certain that the experiment was physically impossible but Lucid didn't know that. With communications temporarily interrupted between Mir and Earth, she kept at the experiment for over an hour. Finally, she got the bubble to form.

"It blew away their theory," Gerstenmaier said. "They believed their computer analysis. She didn't know that and really pushed that boundary."

Space station research can have applications for humanity on Earth one experiment performed on the station uncovered immune system changes that can predict shingles, a painful skin disorder caused by the chickenpox virus, Suffredini said as well as for future space travel and basic science.

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Space Station Science at a Critical Point, NASA Says

The vast scale of wildfires raging across parts of Colorado and the western U.S. has been captured on camera by astronauts on the International Space Station.

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Colorado Wildfires Seen From Space in Astronaut Video

A new software platform designed to ease the passage of payloads from earth to space was announced today at the AAS Space Station Research and Development Conference by NanoRacks, LLC, the leading company for space utilization. Payload TrackerTM is the first ever user-friendly tool that is specifically designed to allow customers, government officials, launch providers and others to track individual payloads through the myriad NASA safety and procedural requirements involved in launching customer project to the International Space Station.

"One of the complexities at NanoRacks as well as for everyone involved is tracking a payload once it enters the NASA system," explained Michael Johnson, NanoRacks' chief technology officer. "Payload TrackerTM was created to track step by step each of the NASA requirements, allowing all team members to immediately know the status of a given payload, where it is in the system, what modifications are required and the expected time to the next step." NanoRacks is proud of the average of nine months to launch for their customers projects and see the Payload TrackerTM as allowing this pace to be maintained and even improved upon as the backlog grows larger and more diverse.

Payload Tracker was created by the Space Software Company specifically under license to NanoRacks. Explained Chief Developer Y K Addepally "we have enjoyed working closely with NanoRacks to understand the NASA requirements. The result is an extremely robust tool that will give peace of mind and accountability through any launch provider system, whether NASA, suborbital or any space mission." Now ready for beta testing, the Payload TrackerTM will be utilized by NanoRacks and also will be available under license for use by third parties. "The era of space utilization has arrived," adds Johnson, "and a tool like Payload TrackerTM will make the process more efficient and customer- friendly. We are hopeful that everyone involved in payload integration will make use of their own custom-adapted Payload Tracker."

Use of the Program allows all the team members to know, for example, when a stem cell payload has cleared the NASA safety review phase 2 with or without required modifications. The NanoRacks team member responsible for phase 3 safety will have all the necessary information immediately. No review meetings at every stage, no crossed messages. And the owner of the payload is kept automatically informed of the status at every step. Explained Addepally, "Payload Tracker brings all the stake holders of a customer's payload together onto a single platform to manage information and exchange data for each and every step in the safety and integration process. And that's good for the overall mission."

The Platform is expected to be operational by September of 2012. Preview at http://www.payloadtracker.com.

or further information please contract Rich Pournelle at rpournelle@nanoracks.com NanoRacks LLC is the leading company for utilization of the space environment. We launched in 2009 to provide quality hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station. The company operates its own research platforms onboard the U.S. National Laboratory which can house plug and play payloads using the CubeSat form factor, both inside the space station and external now as well. In the first year of operations the NanoRacks team flew over 35 payloads and currently enjoy a customer pipeline of over 60 payloads including domestic and international educational institutions, research organizations and government organizations. In the suborbital market, we are delighted that Virgin Galactic has chosen NanoRacks to design, fabricate and install research racks on the SpaceShipTwo. Visit us at http://www.nanoracks.com and follow us at @nanoracks.

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New NanoRacks' Software Platform Speeds Space Customer Payloads to International Space Station

Outer space seems an unlikely place to study movement beneath the Earth's surface, but an experiment that was performed on the International Space Station is helping scientists do just that.

Geoflow II, a simulation of magma movement in Earth's mantle, is helping scientists study how heat and pressure influence the behavior of molten rock, in an experiment that couldn't have been duplicated on Earth.

"The biggest problem on Earth is the gravitational acceleration. On the ISS, we have micro-gravity conditions," Florian Zaussinger, of Brandenburg University of Technology at Cottbus in Germany, explained.

The readings produced by a series of simulations in the Fluid Science Laboratory aboard the ISS are being studied by scientists on Earth. [Graphic: The International Space Station Inside and Out]

"The Earth's mantle is a very complex fluid," Zaussinger told SPACE.com by email. "We know more about the sun's interior than about our own mantle."

A tiny planet in space

The Geoflow II payload included two concentric spheres that rotated, one inside the other, with silicone oil between them to simulate the mantle. The inner sphere, which represented the Earth's core, was warmer than the "crust" sphere. As the two rotated, scientists on Earth monitored the motion of the oil caused by variations in temperature and pressure.

At the same time, a high-voltage electric field created a controlled artificial gravity for the spheres, directing it toward the common center of the spheres, as gravity on a planet would function.

The space station doesn't mimic the zero-gravity conditions of space, but it comes close. Zaussinger described the conditions as "unique and not possible in this way on Earth."

The mantle starts at 22 miles (35 kilometers) beneath the surface and can descend as deep as 1,800 miles (3,000 km). Drills have descended barely 8 miles (12 km), so scientists rely on models and calculations to understand how the mantle behaves.

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Space Station Experiment Simulates Earth's Magma

For 250 of Philadelphia's young people, 20 questions wasn't a guessing game but the number of chances to hear firsthand from astronauts on the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers spoke via a satellite video to 250 Philadelphia Destination Imagination participants visiting the Philadelphia University campus Tuesday morning. The questions may have sounded mundane to many on Earth, but the answers from space elicited laughs and cheers from the audience.

"How do you do laundry in space?" You don't.

"Do you get to keep pets?" Only if you count lab specimens.

"What do you sleep on?" In a sleeping bag, and sometimes you wake up floating on the ceiling.

Destination Imagination, a Cherry Hill-based nonprofit educational program, received one of six invitations to communicate with astronauts on the space station about eight months ago, said Chuck Cadle, the group's chief executive. Twenty of the Destination Imagination participants, a group made up of local residents, area Boys and Girls Club members, and day campers, were given questions to read collected from Destination Imagination students in Knoxville, Tenn., that had been screened by NASA. The students from Tennessee also listened to the astronauts.

Cadle, who wanted to join NASA's mission control as a child, said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Before the group heard from the astronauts, Cadle asked how many wanted to join NASA. About five raised their hands. After the 20-minute session, he asked again and saw about 40 hands shoot up.

"Events like this introduce students to science," Cadle said. "We want to teach them about the mystery behind it."

The one-day event also featured an appearance by U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, senior member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. Throughout the day there were hands-on challenges for the students, such as working in a team to create from household materials a container that would keep an egg safe when dropped.

"No matter how much you find out, there's always going to be more," said Tracey Riley, 16, who attended the event with the Wissahickon Boys and Girls Club. She asked the astronauts if they experienced the same thoughts and feelings in space as on Earth. Riley was told astronauts have the same feelings, but have to think differently about performing basic actions, such as setting a glass down and its not staying there.

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Philadelphia-area youngsters explore wonders of space with astronauts

"What do you sleep on?" In a sleeping bag, and sometimes you wake up floating on the ceiling.

Destination Imagination, a Cherry Hill-based nonprofit educational program, received one of six invitations to communicate with astronauts on the space station about eight months ago, said Chuck Cadle, the group's chief executive. Twenty of the Destination Imagination participants, a group made up of local residents, area Boys and Girls Club members, and day campers, were given questions to read collected from Destination Imagination students in Knoxville, Tenn., that had been screened by NASA. The students from Tennessee also listened to the astronauts.

Cadle, who wanted to join NASA's mission control as a child, said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Before the group heard from the astronauts, Cadle asked how many wanted to join NASA. About five raised their hands. After the 20-minute session, he asked again and saw about 40 hands shoot up.

"Events like this introduce students to science," Cadle said. "We want to teach them about the mystery behind it."

The one-day event also featured an appearance by U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, senior member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. Throughout the day there were hands-on challenges for the students, such as working in a team to create from household materials a container that would keep an egg safe when dropped.

"No matter how much you find out, there's always going to be more," said Tracey Riley, 16, who attended the event with the Wissahickon Boys and Girls Club. She asked the astronauts if they experienced the same thoughts and feelings in space as on Earth. Riley was told astronauts have the same feelings, but have to think differently about performing basic actions, such as setting a glass down and its not staying there.

The young participants were not the only ones whose interest in space was piqued by the experience. Britt Dyer, the Destination Imagination special projects and events director who ran the question session, admitted that on a whim, she had looked up the application form to become a NASA astronaut while preparing for the event. She said that speaking with the astronauts was "surreal," and that she hoped the young participants would be inspired to think about the space frontier.

"Kids think about being basketball players or football players. They don't know that there are all these opportunities," Dyer said.

Ka'alea Rennie, 10, who asked how astronauts sleep in space, said she did not want to become an astronaut, but after talking to those aboard the International Space Station would consider a brief excursion into space.

"Maybe once in my life," Ka'alea said, "but not for a very long time

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Area students quiz Space Station astronauts via video

Expose allows long exposures to space conditions and solar UV-radiation on the International Space Station. Several trays filled with organisms were installed on the outside of the laboratory. Credits: ESA

PARIS, June 26 (UPI) -- Research on the International Space Station is giving credibility to theories that life came from outer space, the European Space Agency says.

In 2008, a suitcase-sized experiment dubbed Expose-E subjected organic compounds and living organisms such as lichen, seeds and algae to the hostile environment of outer space.

The result? You can freeze it, thaw it, vacuum-dry it and expose it to radiation, but life survives, scientists said.

Life on Earth is protected by our atmosphere from harmful ultraviolet rays, but the space samples endured the full power of the sun's rays.

The samples were returned to Earth in 2009 and the results of the study have been published in the journal Astrobiology.

Lichen have proven to be especially tough, researchers said, and, some species have continued to grow normally since their return to Earth.

"We are exploring the limits of life," ESA's Rene Demets said in a release from the agency's Paris headquarters.

Living organisms persevering in open space supports the idea of "panspermia" -- that life can spread from one planet to another or even between solar systems, researchers said.

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Life seen to survive in space conditions

Deadly bacteria that have spent time in space are already on Earthbut instead of killing humans, they might just save lives. Scientists are using bacteria cultivated on the International Space Station to help develop vaccines that experts say could revolutionize the medical field.

In 1998, researchers began studying how microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeast behaved in space because NASA wanted to be able to keep astronauts safe in the closed space station environment. What they found, specifically with certain types of bacteria, was surprising, says Tara Ruttley, NASA's associate program scientist for the International Space Station.

[See Spectacular Snapshots of Space]

"Bacteria can either respond in microgravity by sitting there and doing nothing, or they can become more aggressive and virulent," meaning they reproduce and evolve to cause disease more readily, she says. But that property of bacteria allows scientists to study exactly why certain bacteria, such as salmonella and MRSA, make people sick.

Scientists aren't exactly sure why certain bacteria become more virulent in space, but Ruttley says they believe it might be a stress response to being put into a low-gravity environment. But whatever the reason, studying bacteria that have spent time in space can make it easier for scientists to develop defenses.

"If you know the gene that makes bacteria more aggressive, you can build a defense against it," she says.

Last week, William Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of human explorations and operations, told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that medical discoveries and vaccines developed on the International Space Station could help the United States "create a new economy based on space-based research."

"It's like when we went to Africa to look for new plant species to use for drugs," he said. "We can create a new industry with this."

[NASA:Private U.S. Spacecraft Could Save Agency Millions]

Cheryl Nickerson and Roy Curtiss, professors at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, are leading the charge. They are studying salmonella that has spent time in space, in an attempt to "turn it from foe to friend" by crippling the disease-causing genes and replacing them with ones that protect against Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacteria that causes meningitis, pneumonia, and many other diseases.

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Space: The New Frontier For Medical Breakthroughs

China's first space laboratory module Tiangong-1 linked up with the Shenzhou -9 spacecraft on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images

BEIJING: China moved a step closer to achieving its goal of building a space station after it manually docked a spacecraft and an orbiting module for the first time.

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft carrying three crew, including the nation's first female astronaut, linked up with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A remote-controlled, automated docking took place last week and the spacecraft was disconnected yesterday to repeat the manoeuvre manually, an event broadcast live on national television.

China is seeking to expand its space program and has goals of putting a person on the moon by 2020 as well as operating a permanent manned space station. The astronauts lived and worked in Tiangong-1 after last week's docking and returned to the lab module after the latest manoeuvre to conduct further experiments and studies, Xinhua said.

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The docking was ''a complete success'', said Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program. The breakthrough in the docking technology ''lays a solid foundation for construction of the space station'', she said.

China has an investment budget of 19 billion yuan ($3 billion) for the country's space-rendezvous and docking missions, Wu said. That includes the Shenzhou-9 project and the planned Shenzhou-10 manned mission next year as well as previous missions conducted by the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, she said.

Shenzhou-9 was launched on June 16, while Tiangong-1 was put into orbit last year. The astronauts will stay in the module for another three to four days before manoeuvering it to separate from the spacecraft and return to Earth.

China sent its first man into space and conducted its first spacewalk decades later than the United States and Russia. The US ended its 30-year space-shuttle program last year and now has no manned spaceflight capability.

Bloomberg

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Chinese edge closer to space dreams

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) ESA astronaut Andr Kuipers is running experiments on the International Space Station that are shedding light on conditions deep inside Earth. Orbiting some 400 km above us, Geoflow is offering insights into the inner workings of our planet.

Descending 3000 km under our feet, Earth's mantle is a semi-solid fluid under our thin outer crust. The highly viscous layers vary with temperature, pressure and depth.

Understanding how the mantle flows is a major interest for geophysics because it could help to explain earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Computers can model it, but how can scientists be sure they are correct?

The deepest that humans have ever drilled is just over 12 km, so investigating the mantle directly is out of reach for the immediate future.

Instead of probing Earth's depths directly, six European teams led by the University of Cottbus in Germany looked to recreate aspects of mantle flow in a laboratory. Experiments simulating these conditions can verify and improve the computer models.

This poses a different problem, however. How can gravity be simulated without Earth's gravity itself influencing the results?

The solution is to send an experiment to our largest weightless laboratory: the International Space Station.

Planet in a box

ESA sponsored the development of an experiment that mimics the geometry of a planet. Called Geoflow, it contains two revolving concentric spheres with a liquid between them.

The inner sphere represents Earth's core, with the outer sphere acting as the crust. The liquid, of course, is the mantle.

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Geoflow: Space station experiments shed light on conditions deep inside Earth

Delicate, shining threads of white seem alienlike against the darkness of space in a new image of a type of "night-shining" or noctilucent cloud taken from the International Space Station (ISS) and released today (June 25).

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Strange Night-Shining Clouds Captured in Space Station Photo

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Lichen shown to survive in outer space

China completes successful docking mission at space station.

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China's Space Age Grows Up As U.S. Space Race Winds Down

Broadcast live on state television, the space craft undocked for two minutes, traveling 400 metres away from the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module.

Its three-person crew, including the country's first woman in Space Liu Yang, then re-connected the two space craft under the manual control of the astronauts.

The Shenzhou 9 has already conducted an automated docking with Tiangong 1, on June 18, a day after it blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Compared with automated docking, manual docking is more challenging in terms of orbit control, said Xie Jianfeng, a space scientist with the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The docking mission is the latest show of China's growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches.

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China's space station dream one step closer

With the presence of China's first female astronaut Liu Yang on the Shenzhou-9 mission already a huge source of national pride, China's increasingly ambitious space programme took another leap forward on Sunday when the three-member crew of Shenzhou-9 performed China's first-ever manual space docking.

Mastering the technique of joining spacecraft together manually is seen as a vital step towards China's goal of having an operating space station by 2020.

The success of the Shenzhou-9 mission could not have come at a better time for the ruling Communist party, which in recent years has sought to bolster its status by encouraging nationalist fervour rather than any adherence to Maoist ideology. Later this year, the Communist Party faces a once-in-a-decade leadership change, while the party is still struggling to deal with the aftermath of the fall of the disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai, whose wife Gu Kailai is likely to be charged with the murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood.

Until now, China has performed all its space dockings by remote control, the procedure that was used to join Shenzhou-9 to the experimental Tiangong-1 space lab last Monday, two days after its launch on June 16.

But after decoupling from Tiangong-1 this morning and moving 1,300 feet away, astronaut Liu Wang delicately manoeuvred Shenzhou-9 back towards the module and docked with it at 12.42pm today local time.

China remains far behind the US and Russia in space technology. But by bringing two spacecraft together, the Chinese have once again demonstrated their determination to stake their claim in space.

The Shenzhou-9 mission, China's fourth manned space flight, has been watched avidly by a proud Chinese public, especially fascinated by the presence of 33-year-old Liu Yang, China's first woman in space.

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China achieves first manual space docking

Three Chinese astronauts manually docked their space capsule at an orbiting module Sunday (June 24), a major first for China's space program and the country's plans to build a large space station.

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Chinese Astronauts Manually Dock Spacecraft at Orbiting Module in National First

A Chinese spacecraft on Sunday successfully completed the country's first manual docking in orbit, a milestone in an ambitious programme to build a space station by the end of the decade.

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China conducts first manual space docking

Chinese astronauts are due to carry out the nation's first manual space docking Sunday, a highly complex manoeuvre that will bring the Asian powerhouse a step closer to building a space station. The manual ...

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China to conduct first manual space docking

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2012) You can freeze it, thaw it, vacuum dry it and expose it to radiation, but still life survives. ESA's research on the International Space Station is giving credibility to theories that life came from outer space -- as well as helping to create better sunscreens.

In 2008 scientists sent the suitcase-sized Expose-E experiment package to the Space Station filled with organic compounds and living organisms to test their reaction to outer space.

When astronauts venture on a spacewalk, hours are spent preparing protective suits to survive the hostile conditions. No effort was made to protect the bacteria, seeds, lichen and algae attached to the outside of the Space Station, however.

"We are exploring the limits of life," explains ESA's Ren Demets.

Our atmosphere does a wonderful job of protecting life on Earth by absorbing harmful UV rays and keeping temperatures relatively stable.

In contrast, the space samples endured the full power of the Sun's rays. The samples were insulated somewhat by the Space Station but still had to cope with temperatures changing from -12C to +40C over 200 times as they orbited Earth.

The samples returned to Earth in 2009 and the results have now been published in a special issue of the journal Astrobiology.

Lichen have proven to be tough cookies -- back on Earth, some species continue to grow normally.

Ren explains, "These organisms go into a dormant state waiting for better conditions to arrive."

The lichen have attracted interest from cosmetic companies. They can survive the full power of the Sun for 18 months, so knowing more could lead to new ingredients for sunscreen.

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Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens