Category Archives: Space Station

Over the past 20 years, the International Space Station (ISS) has housed more than 200 astronauts from 17 countries. The ISS has proven to be uniquely capable of enabling the development and testing of exploration technology and human physiology research for future Mars missions.

In the next 10 years the ISS can play a critical role in overcoming hurdles on the road to human exploration of Mars, not only as a laboratory for key research topics, but as the starting point for simulated Mars missions that take humans from a zero-G environment to Mars analog sites on Earth. Areas of research include environmental and life support systems, habitation module development, human factors, space nutrition, space suit testing, long duration human physiology, surface adaptation and rehabilitation, and much more. The ISS is a unique facility for solving scientific mysteries, and if we leverage everything it has to offer, it will accelerate our efforts to explore the solar system.

Integrated Mars mission analogs

One unanswered question is how long it will take for astronauts to recover from their zero-gravity transit to Mars when they reach the martian surface. Currently, astronauts returning from the ISS are scooped up by support staff moments after they reach the Earth; however, astronauts will not have the same luxury on Mars. They will need to self-recover on a dangerous alien planet after six to nine months in a zero-g environment and begin work as soon as possible. Given this reality, it is necessary to understand how long astronaut recovery, both physical and mental, will take in order to design the architecture of future Mars missions to meet their needs. We can start to answer these questions with astronauts returning from the ISS now.

Mars missions will also require updates to the operations concepts, tools and processes astronauts need to enable their ground activities as quickly and safely as possible. Expeditions that simulate astronaut operations with time-delayed support teams will demonstrate where knowledge is lacking. These activities should be incorporated into upcoming ISS expeditions to maximize the benefits of the ISS while it is in orbit. Addressing these unknowns will allow us to buy down significant risk for the crews on their way to Mars.

To take full advantage of any of these tests, we need to start now. If humans are going to go to the martian system in the 2030s, it requires an understanding of what the crew will experience. Integrated analog missions, in harsh environments such as the dry valleys of Antarctica or the Arctic, which combine the above research areas, could potentially revolutionize our understanding of Mars mission operations.

Long duration spaceflight studies laboratory

The ISS is also useful for testing how humans will perform during deep space missions. Early Mars missions may be as long as 1,100 days from launch to Earth return for both orbital and surface missions. Whether by design or as a contingency plan, the crew could end up spending the entire duration in a zero-G environment. It is currently unknown how missions of this duration will affect astronaut health and performance. In fact, there are zero data points for long term human spaceflight beyond 438 days (Valeri Polyakovs Mir mission in 1994), not even half the duration of the shortest Mars missions.

Missions such as The Year in Space, with Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenkos time aboard the ISS, have been key to understanding how long-duration space flight affects the human body and psyche. That being said, we need more data points to generate a statistically meaningful dataset from a diverse population if we are going to generalize the findings.

The two-and-a-half hour exercise regimen currently employed on the ISS largely remediates the effects of bone loss and muscle deterioration on 6-month to 1-year missions. But, even if these problems prove manageable, there are still other challenges that we need to examine. For example, astronauts on the ISS can also experience vision blurring, renal stone formation, bone fractures and limited access to medical care, to name a few. How astronauts will overcome these and other unknown challenges that may arise as they extend their stay in space is currently unknown. But we can pursue more long duration missions on the ISS to find out.

A testbed for Mars mission equipment

ISS can also serve as a valuable testbed for Mars mission equipment such as for experiments and technology demonstrations that require microgravity, radiation or thermal space environments. Environmental control systems, 3D printing techniques, intelligent systems and many other technologies required for Mars exploration could be tested on the ISS today, in an in-space environment only hours away from the Earths surface. It is necessary to understand how new deep space systems withstand the rigors of exposure to a zero-G environment. In fact, many of these systems, such as urine processors, can be thoroughly tested only when there are humans regularly stressing the system.

Public outreach

The public wants NASA to do great things; they want to see humans explore the solar system. As NASA develops more comprehensive plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, the public would almost certainly be excited to see NASA testing equipment for the Mars Transfer Vehicle in orbit or to follow the progress of astronauts on simulated Mars missions from the ISS to a Mars analog site during the 2020s. Taxpayers will witness astronauts doing real training in preparation for Mars, and the public will even be able to experience the challenges of such missions firsthand, both through social media and augmented or virtual reality experiences currently in use in the space program.

The ISS is unique: it is nearby, it is active, but it will not last forever. If we are serious about ever going beyond the Earth system, we need to take advantage of our resources at hand. With the right expertise applied and supporting management structure, the ISS can expand the horizons of human space exploration. There are no other platforms in existence that provide the unique capabilities that the ISS offers. Abandoning the opportunity to use the ISS to the fullest extent of its capabilities will only slow us down and even stand in the way of the journey to Mars.

Chris Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars, Inc., and author of Alcohol in Space. Rick Zucker is vice president for policy, and member of the board of directors, of Explore Mars, Inc.

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Utilizing the International Space Station to enable humans to reach Mars - The Hill

Canada plans to send two astronauts on moon-bound missions.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced Wednesday, Dec. 16, that a Canadian astronaut will fly around the moon in 2023 on the Artemis 2 mission the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program that will test NASA's Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit to prepare for a 2024 landing. A second CSA astronaut will participate in a subsequent mission to NASA's forthcoming Gateway space station in lunar orbit.

The forthcoming flight announcements are part of a larger memorandum of agreement between Canada and NASA, also announced Wednesday, formally pledging collaboration on the Artemis moon program that Canada said it would commit to nearly 18 months ago.

Related: Canadian Astronauts Talk Apollo 11 and Canada's Future in Space

Simply put, Canada will provide robotics to NASA, and in exchange NASA will give CSA astronauts opportunities to fly lunar missions, potentially even with more astronauts landing on the moon in the future, officials said in a virtual press conference.

"This will make Canada only the second country after the U.S. to have an astronaut in deep space and send the first Canadian around the moon," Navdeep Bains, Canada's government minister of innovation, science and industry, told reporters in the press conference.

The only people who have ventured out of Earth orbit so far are a handful of American Apollo astronauts, over nine missions between 1968 and 1972, but NASA wants its Artemis program to include extensive international participation.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques evoked the historic Apollo 8 mission of 1968, which tested some of the major spacecraft systems in lunar orbit ahead of the first human landing in 1969, as the parallel for Artemis 2.

"It's a mission to test the [spacecraft] equipment and the navigation; as you can imagine, navigation from the planet will be one of the biggest challenges," Saint-Jacques said during the press conference (in French, translated into English). Another challenge the Artemis 2 astronauts will face is a high-speed re-entry in Earth's atmosphere, he added.

Canada will pay for its astronaut seats through its traditional route, which is providing handy space robotics to assist with NASA's missions. Canadarm3, a future robotic arm, will be mounted on the Gateway space station to do remote maintenance even when astronauts aren't there.

Canadian robotics giant MDA who also maintains Canadarm2 on the International Space Station received a contract just last week to establish the technical requirements for Canadarm3, which CSA first pledged to contribute to the Artemis program in March 2019. The new arm will be equipped with artificial intelligence so that the robot has a measure of autonomy in performing scans of Gateway and possibly, assisting with repairs.

The moon-bound Canadian astronauts haven't been named yet, but Canada has a choice of four Saint-Jacques (who flew to the International Space Station in 2018-19), Jeremy Hansen (selected in 2009 and still waiting for a mission), and newer 2017 recruits Jenni Sidey-Gibbons and Joshua Kutryk, who both qualified for full astronaut status earlier in 2020 after completing standard astronaut candidate training.

Notably, Hansen coordinated the entire 2017 astronaut class training schedule and acted as a mentor to the recruits, a first for a Canadian that shows NASA's confidence in Hansen's work. He also helped with the planning for several recent tricky spacewalks, including the complex procedures associated with repairing and upgrading a dark-matter detector on ISS known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

During the press conference, Bains also said Hansen is a "tremendous ambassador" for Canada in promoting the country's space strategy to policy-makers. Hansen himself spoke to the importance of Canada's participation in international space missions, too.

"Setting big goals in space exploration for example, the International Space Station that has strengthened our ability to collaborate, and that same collaboration is required as we tackle big global challenges like climate change," Hansen said in the same press conference.

"Canada, in my opinion, just has so much to offer the global community Space is changing rapidly. The commercial opportunities are immense. There are even new commercial opportunities now around human exploration, and even space robotics. What I would really love to communicate to our Canadian youth, minister, is that they should know our future in space is bright. We are leveraging decades of experience and commitment to the major players in this emerging economy. I think it is visionary."

"As Canadian astronauts, I think that we're particularly proud to be representing Canada in this context," Kutryk added during the same press conference. "We're also proud to have built here at the Canadian Space Agency our core of highly trained and ready professional astronauts, all of whom are ready for these missions and the ones that will follow."

Canada anticipates using its lunar opportunity to test out technologies such as rovers on the surface, and also to practice geology from orbit. Apollo astronauts historically received some of their geology training in Sudbury, Ont. and all current Canadian astronauts have participated in work with Canada's Western University, a leader in space geology that periodically does expeditions in the Arctic to practice science-gathering in remote environments.

"Canada's scientists are really interested in studying the geological record of the moon and the geological processes that formed the moon's surface," Sidey-Gibbons said in the same press conference. "That gives us hints not only as to how our own moon formed, but also lets us know about the composition and characteristics of other terrestrial planets in our solar system. We learn about other moons icy moons of other planets and even smaller objects like asteroids."

Canadian robotics have been in space since the dawn of NASA's space shuttle program, paying for astronaut seats as they were built. The second space shuttle mission, STS-2 in 1981, successfully tested out the Canadarm, which was used for spacewalks and robotic operations for shuttle missions for the next 30 years. Its wild success led to NASA inviting Canada to form an astronaut program, and the first Canadian Marc Garneau flew only three years later in 1984.

Canadarm2 was mounted on the space station in 2001 and a robotic hand, Dextre, was added in 2008, securing Canada's commitment for human space station missions for decades. Both are still functioning and later in its career, Canadarm2's mandate of spacewalk assistance and space station scans expanded to include helping to capture robotic cargo spacecraft. Canada also began to perform more robotic operations from its own space center in Montreal, rather than in the United States.

While Canada has a crucial contribution to ISS, its 2.3% equivalent financial commitment pales beside the more giant international partners of NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

As commercial crew missions and Artemis missions begin to take shape, more international opportunities do appear to be forthcoming since there are simply more astronaut seats to be had for all missions. But for more than a decade, Canada's small contribution meant that ever since the space shuttle retired in 2011, the smaller Russian Soyuz spacecraft only had the room to haul Canadians into orbit every five to six years. The last two Canadians Saint-Jacques and now-retired astronaut Chris Hadfield flew in 2018 and 2012-13, respectively.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Canadian astronauts will start flying to the moon in 2023 with NASA's Artemis missions - Space.com

This Christmas might be the first that you find yourself unable to be where you want or with the people you want to celebrate with, but that doesnt mean it wont be festive. People who have spent Christmas in some of the most remote locations possible in space, on a submarine and on several isolated islands have spoken to i about how they captured the Christmas spirit when they were far from their loved ones.

Former Nasa astronaut Terry Virts, from Texas, spent Christmas on the International Space Station as a member of a six-person crew. He called his family, decorated the station, and exchanged gifts with the other astronauts.

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Field assistant Alex Dodds is about to spend her second Christmas on the British Antarctic Surveys research station on Bird Island, South Georgia. Every year, all the research bases in Antarctica exchange Christmas cards.

Retired captain Ryan Ramsey spent two Christmases submerged under the waves on a Royal Navy submarine, unable to speak to his family or see the sky for a month. He worried about missing Christmas at home in the build-up to the day, but afterwards he focused on next year instead.

Lauren Elliott spent last Christmas working at the UKs most remote post office, Port Lockroy, a snow-covered outpost on the Antarctic Peninsula, with thousands of honking penguins and just four other people for company. She was amazed by how somewhere so remote could be made to feel festive.

Ritualistic behaviour and traditions provide containment, which allow us to go back to our roots and make us feel connected to people at home says Dr Martina Paglia, a psychologist at the International Psychology Clinic.

Loneliness is a normal emotion to experience especially at Christmas time but you can lift your mood by allowing yourself to feel hope, she says.

There are reasons to have a positive outlook now, says Dr Paglia. The vaccine is being implemented across the country and the world. Keeping your mind positive affects mood. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in 2021.

We got to celebrate Christmas 16 times, because we got 16 sunrises. Due to the international nature of the space station, holidays are frequently being celebrated. On Christmas Day, there wasnt a whole lot of scheduled activity, but Nasa makes you exercise to keep your body in shape, so I spent two hours using a treadmill, a bike and a weightlifting machine.

Afterwards, I spent a lot of time on the phone. The system is like a WhatsApp or FaceTime call, but its only available when the satellites in view, so it cuts off. People back home were always happy to get that phone call.

The space station is decorated with lights, Santa hats, stockings for each crew member and even a tiny Christmas tree, which all had to be secured with Velcro and duct tape. We ate irradiated turkey, dehydrated potatoes and cornbread dressing.

Some people planned ahead and launched presents, but I didnt think of that, so gave everyone beef jerky and chocolate. The Russians on the station gave me a harmonica. When they celebrated Christmas on 7 January, we watched a livestream of carols being performed in Russian churches.

Christmas happens in summer in the subantarctic wilds, so we have 24 hours of sunlight. The base gets decorated and we have an artificial tree its the only tree on Bird Island.

The island is home to albatrosses, fur seals, leopard seals, penguins, giant petrels and burrow-nesting birds. There are just four people three zoological field assistants and one station technician on the base from March- November, but it gets busier at Christmas, the middle of the albatrosses breeding season.

On the day, field work takes up most of our time. Once we have checked the albatrosses, we have a lunch with all the trimmings, mulled wine and mince pies.

We may be remote, but we still get post. Visiting ships deliver mail sacks from Stanley, Falkland Islands albeit infrequently throughout the year. Getting the mail is always a great morale boost. Its tradition for all the other countries Antarctic bases to send each other a Christmas card with a photo of everyone out in the snow, so we have those on display too.

Everyone is a long way from home, so everyone gets a timeslot to call our families. Well end the day watching a classic Christmas film together.

The Killer Hunter submarine left port for a month-long patrol on 21 December 2013 with 130 people on board. I had no way to contact my family for all the time I was at sea because the submarines have no internet connections.

Everyone on board worked in on and off shifts of six hours, even on Christmas Day. The day was marked though, with an alcohol-free dinner and presents from family that were brought aboard. There was no live television but the crew played board games.

It was difficult not being able to be with family on the day, but you enjoy what you have. For most, its simply a chance to have a good meal. You can celebrate properly when you get back.

There is some anxiety about missing the day in the build-up to it, but afterwards you focus on the next year being better.

I hoped I would receive better gifts the following year, too. I only brought one present onto the submarine, which was from my other half. I opened the parcel in the officers mess with everyone else. It was a nasal hair trimmer.

Ryan Ramsey has written a book called SSN14 HMS Turbulent and a second, Deep Pressure, which is released in the middle of next year.

Port Lockroy is home to the UKs most remote post office, run by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, on the first permanent British base to be established on theAntarctic Peninsula.

It is the most Christmassy place you can imagine, covered in snow, ice and penguins. We arrived in October and what amazed me was how quickly humans can make a random place homely and festive.

There were just five of us living permanently at Pock Lockroy on Christmas Day. We had to do all our normal jobs shovelling snow, counting the gentoo penguins but then we were able to borrow some kayaks and kayaked around the island.

All of our food was canned, but we managed to get some potatoes from a ship that came into the port, so we roasted them. People who had spent Christmas at the base in previous years sent us cards to open on the day.

Youd think it would be very peaceful there, but the penguins are so loud. After a while, though, the sound becomes normal, like the sound of traffic in a city.

Alongside running the post office and the museum for visiting cruise ship passengers, we had to conduct beach surveys, carry out maintenance of the buildings and monitor the penguins. Its such a simple way of living, with no running water and electricity from a solar panel. I would go back in a heartbeat.

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How people spend an isolated Christmas in space, on submarines and in Antarctica - iNews

It's the ultimate bucket list experience like no other. Take to the skies and float like an astronaut without launching to space.

It's a once in a lifetime commercial flight opportunity offered by the Zero Gravity Corporation.

The space entertainment and tourism company is making space adventure available to anyone at a reasonable price.

"Because having space is something that can be a commercial endeavor that everyone can enjoy," Cronise said. "Not just creating hero astronauts; not just the elite people that get to go, but actually everybody be able to go."

Space enthusiasts get to experience the free-falling ride inside G-Force One.

"It's a Boeing 727 that took 10-years to retrofit to do this," said Matt Gohd, CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation. "It's the only FAA-certified plane that can fly zero-gravity flights.

Similar to a cargo plane, G-Force One is laid out with a padded interior divided into spacious sections made just for free-floating.

"It's like watching Apollo 11. It's incredible," said Joshua Wexler from Van Nuys in Los Angeles.

After first experiencing ZERO-G with his son earlier in the year, Wexler returned, but this time with his daughter for her first space-like flight.

"To have this kind of experience with my dad is just a really special moment," said 16-year-old Bella Wexler. "It's just a father-daughter bonding moment," she added.

For reservations, pricing, and flights near you, just head to gozerog.com.

"As a kid growing up in the beginnings of the space age, to think that like 50 years ago, this would be something I could do is amazing," said Gohd.

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Experience zero-gravity without going to space - WPVI-TV

By: Trends Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 18, 2020 10:55:06 amThe picture also captures the orange airglow, which is the result of atmospheric particles reacting to solar radiation.

NASA shared an image what the snow-covered Himalayas look like from space and its being widely shared on social media. Shared from NASAs official Instagram handle, the picture also captured the bright city lights of New Delhi and Lahore.

The enhanced, long-exposure image was reportedly taken by one of the crew members of the International Space Station (ISS).

The snow-covered Himalayan Mountains are in splendid view in this enhanced, long-exposure image taken by a crew member aboard the @iss, the post read.

Take a look here:

The picture also captures the orange airglow, which is the result of atmospheric particles reacting to solar radiation.

Take a look at some of the reactions to the picture:

The Himalayan mountain range has some of the highest peaks in Earth, including the Mount Everest, located at the border between Nepal and China.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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NASA shows what snow-covered Himalayas look like from space - The Indian Express

Soichi Noguchi has emerged as the resident photographer of the International Space Stations current Expedition 64 crew.

The 55-year-old Japanese astronaut reached the orbiting outpost last month, together with three American astronauts, aboard SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule on its first operational flight.

Since arriving, Noguchi has been tweeting some amazing photos as the ISS orbits the planet every 90 minutes or so, from around 250 miles up. The images were likely taken from the space stations seven-window Cupola observatory, which offers incredible views of Earth, the moon, and beyond.

So lets take a look at some of the best ones to date

This remarkable image shows Houston, Texas, as well as Trinity Bay and Galveston Bay, and Beaumont off to the east.

Howdy, #Houstonian! #houstontx # pic.twitter.com/hkhXW9JXPG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An enviable view of Spains Balearic Islands

#Ibiza #Spain's Balearic Islands in the #Mediterranean Sea. pic.twitter.com/ZwXzKFtzY0

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 14, 2020

Noguchi describes this eye-catching image of Mauritania in Africa as almost like an oil painting.

Almost like an oil painting #Africa is beautiful. #Mauritania and #WesternSahara pic.twitter.com/JpD6dtPacV

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 13, 2020

A striking photo of Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri (not Illinois, Soichi!)

I found #Dragon! Lake Ozarks in #Illinois , near hometown of @Astro_illini pic.twitter.com/wbfUY4kLC4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

With its quirky man-made islands in the Persian Gulf, heres no mistaking Dubai from 250 miles up

Palms, and the World. #Dubai Happy belated anniversary #UAENationalDay pic.twitter.com/wNabENmWf4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 8, 2020

If you follow an imaginary diagonal line from the top right corner of this photo, youll see a bright white dot about a quarter of the way down. Its the Sydney Opera House

Sydney, #Australia. Yes, I can see the famous operahouse! pic.twitter.com/6sD5CXZ5d7

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 9, 2020

Noguchis fabulous night shot of his home countrys capital city

Good night, #TOKYO! pic.twitter.com/laSbi0FbSW

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

Here we see the Texas location of SpaceXs recent test flight of its prototype Starship rocket, which ended in a spectacular fireball.

Boca Chica, #TX. Probably the closest place to #moon and beyond. Go, #SpaceX !!! pic.twitter.com/jgyeuqYJCG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An awesome view of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia

#Riyadh, #SaudiArabia magical city in the middle of beautiful desert. pic.twitter.com/S0jHVVWuWM

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

Beautiful Hawaii islands, tweets Noguchi.

Beautiful #Hawaii islands. # pic.twitter.com/dh1U0PsSk5

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

The Japanese astronaut points out the place where the Crew Dragon, which transported him and his fellow crew members to the ISS last month, was built.

#LosAngeles our #resilience spacecraft was built here. pic.twitter.com/OssLoOtJBp

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

Turning his gaze away from Earth for a moment, Noguchi captured this beautiful image of the moon, a place set to welcome the first woman and next man before the end of this decade.

#Moonrise pic.twitter.com/sz1TZa4Gew

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) November 30, 2020

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Check out these amazing views of Earth shot from the space station - Digital Trends

On Monday, NASA flight engineer Kate Rubins pulled out 20 radish plants grown in the space station's Advanced Plant Habitat, wrapping them in foil for cold storage until they can make the voyage back to Earth next year.

"I've worked on APH since the beginning, and each new crop that we're able to grow brings me great joy because what we learn from them will help NASA send astronauts to Mars and bring them back safely," said Nicole Dufour, the Advanced Plant Habitat program manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in a news release.

Back on the ground, scientists at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are growing radishes in a control group set for harvest on December 15. The researchers will compare the space-grown radishes to the veggies grown on Earth, checking on how space produce measures up on providing the minerals and nutrients astronauts need as they prepare for longer trips.

Meanwhile, astronauts will repeat the radish experiment in the heavens, planting and harvesting another round of radish crop to give scientists more data to draw from.

With their short cultivation time, radishes present potential advantages as a food source for future astronauts embarking on deep space missions in years to come. The radishes grow quickly, and they can reach full maturity in 27 days.

The root vegetables also don't require much maintenance from the crew as they grow.

"Radishes provide great research possibilities by virtue of their sensitive bulb formation," said Karl Hasenstein, a professor of biology at the University of Louisiana and the principal investigator on the project, in a news release.

Researchers will analyze the effects of carbon dioxide on the radishes as well as how the vegetables acquire and distribute minerals, according to Hasenstein, who has run plant experiments with NASA since 1995.

Astronauts have grown 15 different types of plants on the station, including eight different types of leafy greens. And NASA has already tested more than 100 crops on Earth, identifying which candidates to try out next in space.

"Growing a range of crops helps us determine which plants thrive in microgravity and offer the best variety and nutritional balance for astronauts on long-duration missions," Dufour said.

Years of research with space crops

Researchers at NASA began experiments using its Vegetable Production Systems growth chambers back in 2014 shortly after they were delivered to the space station.

In August 2015, NASA shared a video that features American astronauts Dr. Kjell Lindgren and Scott Kelly floating aboard the station, saying "Cheers" and eating the space-grown treat.

"Tastes good," Kelly said.

Getting space agriculture right matters because the nutrients in the prepackaged food that astronauts currently eat in space degrade over a period of time, NASA said.

Getting humans to Mars and back safely over a two- or three-year mission requires growing food along the way. That not only gives astronauts more of a vibrant supply of fresh nutrients on the voyage; it also serves an emotional need as they tend to crops that are both a figurative and literal taste of home, according to the agency.

The NASA Artemis program aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024, and to establish a sustained presence on the moon by 2028. From there, the agency will be poised to begin staging its next big leap, to Mars.

But before we make it to the red planet, we've first got to make a tasty green space salad.

CNN's Ashley Strickland contributed to this story.

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Astronauts harvest radishes grown aboard the International Space Station - CNN

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Art projects from 2 students head to the International Space Station - KCTV Kansas City

The past 20 years aboard the International Space Station have yielded scientific and technological advancements in the only laboratory available for long-duration microgravity research. These include fundamental disease research, the discovery of steadily burning cool flames, new water purification systems, and drug development using protein crystals.

Fundamental disease research: Those impacted by Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, cancer, asthma or heart disease have been personally touched by space station research. Microgravity research has provided new insights to scientists studying these diseases. Studying cells, organoids, and protein clusters without the influence of gravity or even the forces of container walls can help researchers get a clearer understanding of their properties, behaviors and responses to treatments.

Without the interference of Earths gravity, Alzheimers researchers on the space station have studied protein clusters that can cause neurodegenerative diseases. Cancer researchers studied the growth of endothelial cells on the space station.

Discovery of steadily burning cool flames: Fire typically conjures thoughts of heat, but special flames created aboard the space station keep things a bit cooler. When scientists burned fuel droplets in the Flame Extinguishing Experiment study, something unexpected occurred. A fuel droplet appeared to extinguish but actually continued to burn without a visible flame. The fire went out twice once with and once without a visible flame. This is the first time scientists observed large droplets of heptane fuel that had dual modes of combustion and extinction. The second stage was sustained by what is known as cool flame chemical heat release.

Removing gravity from studies of combustion allows for exploration of the basic principles of flames. Cool flames have been produced on Earth, but they quickly flicker out.

New water purification systems: The space stations life support system was developed to provide the crew with clean air and water. The Water Recovery System purifies and filters the stations water, recovering and recycling 93% of the water astronauts use in space. This technology is licensed for adaption into an Earth-based water treatment system, with the first ground-based water filtration systems using NASA technology installed in Iraq in 2006 Marshall engineers helped install and test the system in the northern village of Kendala, after the pump for the villages deep-water well failed. Station research studies likeAquaMembranehave also tested out other innovative water systems.

Efficiently recycling wastewater aboard the space station reduces the need to provide water through resupply missions. As humans travel deeper into space, resupply will be unachievable, making these systems a necessity. The restrictions imposed by the requirements of space prompted innovation that was applied to Earth.

Water is vital for human survival. Unfortunately, many people around the world lack access to clean water. At-risk areas can gain access to advanced filtration and purification systems through technology developed for the space station, making a lifesaving difference in these communities.

Drug development using protein crystals: Humans are composed of more than 100,000 types of proteins. Each protein provides information related to health. Studying these proteins by crystallizing them helps scientists learn more about the body and potential disease treatments.

Protein crystals grown on Earth are affected by gravity, which may alter the way the molecules align on the crystal. Researchers have discovered that growing crystals aboard the space station allows for slower growth and higher quality crystals. This high-quality crystallization allows scientists to identify the structures of disease-causing proteins to develop a new medications and effective treatments. Protein crystal growth experiments conducted aboard the space station have provided insights into numerous diseases, from cancer to gum disease.

One of the most promising results of these station experiments has come from thestudyof a protein associated with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, an incurable genetic disorder that affects 1 in 3,600 young boys. A treatment based on this research is in clinical trials.

Another investigation, PCG-5, sought to grow the therapeutic antibody Keytruda in a more uniform crystalline form. The goal was toimprovethe drug so it can be delivered by injection rather than an IV treatment.

Editors note: This is the first in a five-part series highlighting scientific and technological breakthroughs that have been achieved over the past two decades as a result of International Space Station science. This research helps humanity explore farther into space while also benefiting life on Earth. The Payload Operations Integration Center at Marshall Space Flight Center schedules, assists with, and coordinates all experiments on the stations U.S. Orbital Segment.

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Celebrating 20 years of space station research, discovery | Technology Today - Theredstonerocket