The International Space Station (ISS) hosts research in human health, biology and biotechnology, physical science, Earth and space science, and technology development. Investigations can examine how astronauts’ bodies change, how plants and cells grow, how fluids and flames behave without ordinary buoyancy, how Earth looks from orbit, or whether a device works in space. NASA identifies these broad areas, but it does not publish a current, authoritative ranking that shows which category is most frequent.
The station is useful because it provides sustained microgravity, exposure to the space environment, a low-Earth-orbit viewing platform, and a crewed laboratory. Researchers design the investigation on Earth, pass scientific and operational reviews, prepare hardware and procedures, then have astronauts or automated payloads collect observations and samples in orbit. Ground teams analyze the data and returned material afterward. NASA’s overview of the research areas is available in Station Science 101.
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What experiments are done on the ISS?
NASA’s research program is deliberately diverse. The same orbital laboratory can support a medical investigation, a plant-growth study, a fluid-physics experiment, an Earth-observation instrument, or a technology demonstration. The categories below describe the questions researchers ask and the work a crew or payload may perform; they are not a frequency ranking.
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| Research area | Typical question | What happens on orbit | Possible value of the results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human health | How do vision, bones, muscles, fluids, or other body systems change during long-duration spaceflight? | Astronauts follow measurement protocols, use medical instruments, provide samples when required, and repeat observations over time. | Better understanding of spaceflight risks and of biological changes that can also be studied in medicine on Earth. |
| Biology and biotechnology | How do plants, cells, tissues, microbes, or tissue-chip models respond to microgravity and space radiation? | Crew activate growth systems, feed or image organisms, exchange media, preserve samples, and return material for laboratory analysis. | Evidence about biological mechanisms, cultivation methods, or disease models; a test does not by itself prove a treatment. |
| Physical science | How do fluids, particles, flames, materials, or combustion behave when buoyancy and convection are greatly reduced? | Payloads control temperature, pressure, flow, ignition, mixing, or solidification while sensors record the process. | More accurate physical models and information for spacecraft systems or industrial processes. |
| Earth and space science | What can instruments learn from an unobstructed orbital view of Earth or from the space environment? | Automated or crew-operated instruments collect images, spectra, environmental readings, or exposure data at scheduled times. | Observations that complement ground, aircraft, and other spacecraft measurements. |
| Technology development and demonstrations | Can a new sensor, material, robotic system, life-support component, or other device operate reliably in space? | Hardware is installed, activated, monitored, and sometimes serviced while engineers compare performance with requirements. | Performance evidence that can guide a future mission; a demonstration is not automatically a finished product. |
NASA gives examples of these areas in its May 13, 2024 research overview and in its summary of 20 years of station science.
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Why use the space station instead of a ground laboratory?
Sustained microgravity
Objects on the ISS appear weightless, but “zero gravity” is not the precise term: Earth’s gravity still acts on the station and everything inside it. In microgravity, buoyancy-driven movement is greatly reduced. That changes how liquids settle, how gases mix around organisms, how particles move, and how flames or materials behave. A study can therefore isolate effects that are masked by gravity-driven convection on Earth.
Space exposure and an orbital viewpoint
Payloads can experience the vacuum, radiation, temperature swings, and other conditions of the space environment under controlled measurement. Instruments looking outward also gain a low-Earth-orbit vantage point for observing Earth or phenomena above the atmosphere. The exact exposure depends on where a facility is mounted and how the investigation is designed.
A laboratory with people present
The ISS is not only an unmanned platform. Crew members can start a procedure, change a sample, inspect a result, respond to an anomaly, repair or reconfigure equipment, and package material for return. That flexibility is difficult to obtain in a short, fully automated experiment. At the same time, many payloads run automatically or need only scheduled crew interaction, so “astronauts conduct every measurement by hand” would be inaccurate. NASA explains these advantages in its station research overview.
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How an ISS experiment is selected and prepared
Flight work starts years before a crew opens a payload. NASA’s process includes scientific review and a separate operational effort to make the investigation safe, supportable, and compatible with a launch and station schedule.
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- Define the question and hypothesis. Researchers state what they want to learn, what comparison or control is needed, and which measurements could answer the question.
- Plan the data and samples. The team specifies sensors, image or video requirements, timing, environmental conditions, sample volumes, preservation methods, and the ground measurements needed for comparison.
- Submit and undergo review. NASA evaluates proposals for scientific merit and relevance to agency goals. A scientifically interesting idea still needs a workable flight plan.
- Receive a mission assignment. Selected investigations are normally assigned a flight months ahead. The team then works through scientific, safety, engineering, cargo, and crew-resource requirements.
- Complete approvals and procedures. Specialists write step-by-step flight procedures, define containment and disposal rules, and identify responses to likely faults. The crew and ground controllers train on those procedures.
- Build and qualify the payload. Hardware, consumables, software, sample holders, and packaging are prepared and tested for launch loads, station interfaces, power, data, thermal limits, and containment.
- Collect preflight reference data. Investigators may take baseline measurements on Earth or from crew members before launch so that in-orbit changes have a comparison point.
- Launch and integrate. The payload travels on a resupply or crew vehicle, is unpacked, and is installed in the assigned station facility. Timelines account for transportation, storage, and crew availability.
NASA expert Emily Furfaro summarizes the scale of this preparation: “So, as you can tell, for every experiment that we do on the International Space Station, there’s a whole team of scientists on the ground that has spent years developing the experiment design.” The sentence appears in NASA’s May 28, 2025 interview transcript.
How astronauts and payloads conduct experiments in orbit
Activation and setup
A crew member follows the approved procedure to unpack materials, connect power or data lines, install a cartridge, position a camera, or place a sample in a facility. Automated payloads may begin on a timer or after a single crew command. Ground controllers verify status through telemetry before the investigation proceeds.
Measurements and routine care
Depending on the study, astronauts may take photographs, record observations, draw or transfer fluids, replace growth media, collect medical readings, start a combustion sequence, or move a specimen between temperature-controlled locations. Sensors can record continuously while the crew performs only periodic checks. Procedures specify timing because station schedules, lighting, temperature, and vehicle operations can affect the data.
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Troubleshooting and changes
An unexpected bubble, a blocked line, an alarm, or an image that does not match expectations can require a pause and a ground-team decision. Crew may reseat a connector, change a cartridge, clean a viewing surface, alter a setting within approved limits, or preserve a sample early. Investigators do not improvise outside the flight procedure; any change must remain safe and scientifically interpretable.
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Preservation, return, and analysis
When collection ends, samples may be fixed, frozen, refrigerated, or otherwise stabilized. They are packed for return on a transport vehicle when the investigation requires laboratory tests unavailable on station. Scientists on Earth then combine telemetry, images, crew notes, and returned material. Analysis, statistical review, and publication can take substantial additional time, so an experiment’s completion in orbit is not the same as an immediate scientific conclusion.
What makes microgravity experiments difficult?
Floating hardware and loose objects
A tool or sample that would rest on a bench can drift away and become a safety or contamination problem. Payloads use restraints, bags, clips, and hook-and-loop fasteners to keep items located. Every loose part has to be inventoried and controlled.
Liquids, bubbles, and containment
Without ordinary buoyancy, a liquid does not reliably sit at the bottom of a container. Surface tension can hold it against a wall, while a bubble can block a tube or distort a sensor. Investigators may use sealed cartridges, bubble traps, special mixing methods, glove boxes, or glove bags. Crew practice these operations on the ground before flight.
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On Earth, warm fluid rises and cooler fluid sinks. In microgravity, reduced convection changes heat transfer and the way gases move around plants, cells, flames, and people. Payloads therefore control airflow, orientation, temperature, and gas exchange instead of assuming that a familiar bench-top setup will behave the same way.
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Ground testing for an unfamiliar environment
Teams rotate or reorient equipment during ground tests, use mockups to rehearse containment, and deliberately introduce bubbles or handling errors to identify failure modes. These tests cannot reproduce every orbital condition, but they reveal whether a procedure is understandable and whether a payload can be recovered when conditions differ from the plan. NASA describes these adaptations in its microgravity research interview.
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Human health and long-duration spaceflight
Human investigations can track vision and other bodily changes during extended missions. A protocol might compare preflight, in-flight, and postflight measurements, repeat a test at set intervals, or examine how an intervention affects a specific risk. The crew member is both operator and subject, so privacy, medical oversight, scheduling, and consistent technique matter. Results help characterize spaceflight hazards; they should not be described as a proven therapy merely because a study identifies a biological change.
Plants, cells, and tissue-chip systems
Plant-growth studies examine development, orientation, water delivery, lighting, and gas exchange when gravity no longer provides the usual directional cues. Cell and tissue-chip investigations place living models in controlled fluidic devices, expose them to defined conditions, and image or preserve them at selected times. Crew may replace media or move cartridges, while pumps, cameras, and incubators perform routine work. Returned samples allow microscopy, molecular assays, and other tests that are not available in the station facility.
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Physical-science payloads investigate phenomena such as fluid behavior, particle movement, solidification, and combustion. A chamber can regulate pressure, fuel, oxidizer, flow, and temperature while optical and electrical sensors record the event. Microgravity can reveal a process that convection hides on Earth, but it also makes heat removal, bubble control, and sample positioning harder.
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Earth and space observations
Earth-observation instruments collect images or other measurements as the station moves along its orbit. Researchers account for viewing angle, clouds, lighting, orbital timing, and instrument calibration. Other payloads measure the space environment or expose materials and sensors outside the pressurized modules. These investigations complement, rather than replace, ground stations, aircraft, and dedicated satellites.
Technology demonstrations
A technology payload may test a sensor, robotic mechanism, material, life-support component, or data system under real operating conditions. Engineers monitor power, temperature, communications, mechanical behavior, and fault responses against predefined requirements. A successful demonstration establishes that the tested configuration worked in that setting; it does not guarantee readiness for every future spacecraft or commercial application.
How to check a named ISS investigation
NASA’s Space Station Research Explorer lets readers search investigations and facilities by objective, description, results, imagery, and publications. Use it to confirm the exact study name, hardware, status, and reported findings before treating an example as current. The database changes as investigations are added, completed, or updated, so a page viewed today may not describe what is operating on the station at a later date.
How to interpret an ISS result
- Separate an aim from an outcome. A proposal can test a hypothesis or demonstrate hardware without proving a treatment, product, or operational capability.
- Check the comparison. Results may depend on ground controls, preflight baselines, mission duration, radiation exposure, or a particular crew and facility.
- Read the operational context. A sample handled once, an automated sensor run, and a repeatedly measured human subject produce different kinds of evidence.
- Look for the publication and data description. NASA summaries are useful starting points, while the associated paper or dataset explains methods, uncertainty, and limitations.
The ISS is therefore best understood as a long-duration, crew-supported laboratory rather than a single experiment or a source of instant answers. Its value comes from matching a carefully prepared question to an environment and facility that can expose effects ordinary laboratories cannot isolate.
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