iss

How spacecraft survive extreme temperature swings: coatings, multi-layer insulation, radiators, heaters, and coolant loops, from the ISS to the Webb telescope.

An astronaut in a spacesuit orbiting Earth faces four immediate threats: the vacuum of space (zero pressure, instant death in seconds without suit), extreme temperature swings (−150°C in shadow, 150°C in sunlight), intense radiation (solar wind, cosmic rays), and hypoxia (lack of oxygen). The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) on spacecraft manages all four through oxygen generation, carbon dioxide removal, water recycling, temperature regulation, and pressure maintenance. The International Space Station recycles 90 percent of water and generates oxygen through electrolysis. Deep-space missions to Mars will require even more sophisticated recycling: current ECLSS efficiency is insufficient for 2-year Mars transit. This article examines how astronauts survive in space, the engineering of life support, and the challenges of keeping humans alive in the harshest environment.

How the International Space Station works: orbit, modules, daily life, science, and the transition to commercial stations and China's Tiangong by 2030.

Sleeping in a sleeping bag on a wall, recycling urine into drinking water, and exercising to save your bones. This is life in space.

Over 27,000 tracked debris objects threaten every satellite in Earth orbit. AI is becoming humanity's best defense against a cascade of collisions that could seal off space.

ISS experiments produce metal alloys and composite materials with properties impossible on Earth, advancing aerospace, electronics, and clean energy.

ISS experiments with brain organoids and amyloid-beta protein reveal how microgravity reshapes neural aging and protein folding, opening a new research platform for Alzheimer's disease.

ISS experiments reveal that bacteria behave differently in microgravity, becoming more virulent and developing antibiotic resistance faster—with surprising implications for spacecraft safety and planetary protection.

Spaceflight produces aging-like changes in bone, muscle and the cardiovascular system, most of which largely reverse after return. Here is what the NASA Twins Study and ISS research do, and do not, show about aging.

ISS astronauts lose bone density faster than aging populations, revealing mechanisms of osteoporosis and informing prevention and treatment strategies.

ISS experiments reveal that cancer cells behave differently in microgravity, sometimes becoming more aggressive but also more vulnerable—insights accelerating cancer research.

ISS research reveals how weightlessness causes fluid shifts, cardiac deconditioning, and blood flow changes—insights applicable to heart disease treatment on Earth.