NASA offers ‘benefits for humanity’

NASA is set to release a new book Benefits for Humanity that will showcase how research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is helping improve lives on the Earth, while advancing NASA’s ambitious human exploration goals.

It highlights benefits in a number of key areas including human health, disaster relief and education programmes to inspire future scientists, engineers and space explorers.

“Some 250 miles overhead, astronauts are conducting critical <g data-gr-id="31">researches</g>, which makes tremendous advances in our lives while helping to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit,” said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

“In the next few years, SpaceX and Boeing will send our crews to orbit from the US, increasing the size of space station crews to seven, doubling the amount of crew time to conduct research for all of humanity,” he said.

The space station, which has been continuously occupied since November 2000, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft.

In a partnership between <g data-gr-id="23">five member</g> space agencies representing 15 countries, it advances a unified goal to utilise the orbiting laboratory for the betterment of humanity.

“People do not realise how much their lives today have been made better by the space station,” said Julie Robinson, ISS chief scientist,” he added. 

Scientists use the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), also known as Kibo, to research effective drugs that may improve the lives of patients suffering around the globe.

The ISS with its European Columbus laboratory is steadily producing lots of important research results, which are relevant for many areas of life on Earth.