Microbial-Observatory-Mini-Book-04-28-14-508

The Lab is OpenOrbiting the Earth at almost 5 miles per second, a structure exists that isnearly the size of a football field and weighs almost a million pounds. TheInternational Space Station (ISS) is a testament to international cooperationand significant achievements in engineering. Beyond all of this, the ISS is atruly unique research platform. The possibilities of what can be discoveredby conducting research on the ISS are endless and have the potential tocontribute to the greater good of life on Earth and inspire generations ofresearchers to come.As we increase utilization of ISS as a National Laboratory, now is the timefor investigators to propose new research and to make discoveriesunveiling novel responses that could not be defined using traditionalapproaches on Earth.An astronaut holding a Microbial Air Sampler (MAS) Petri Dish on the ISS. The MAS is used for the collection of cabinair atmosphere for evaluation of the microbial load.3