Findings, and Recommendations 



• Preflight delays and schedule instabilities for flights slated to carry life sciences 

 experiments make it difficult for young scientists and graduate students to partici- 

 pate in life sciences flight experiments. The limitations on flight opportunities also 

 pose difficulties for established investigators; many have waited 10 or more years 

 to fly a single life sciences experiment. 



• For life sciences experiments to provide a useful statistical base, they must be 

 replicated under controlled conditions. This is true for flight experiments with 

 humans, other animals, and plants, as well as for biospherics and exobiology 

 experiments investigating biologic and biogenic phenomena. 



Recommendations 



• NASA should increase the flight opportunities for life sciences research 

 associated with human space flight. Specifically, the Agency should: 



— Dedicate a greater number of regularly scheduled Shuttle middeck lockers 

 and commercially developed flight facilities to life sciences experimentation. 



— Increase the flight rate (priority) of Spacelab and dedicate a larger percent- 

 age of Spacelab volume, time, and resources to life sciences issues. 



— Dedicate a clinical research center and a biological research center for life 

 sciences experiments on the Phase 1 Space Station. 



— Deploy an unmanned spacecraft that is reusable and can support a variety of 

 flight experiments, including those requiring a variable-gravity facility. The 

 spacecraft should be designed for recovery and for rapid redeployment on 

 an expendable launch vehicle. 



• NASA should actively encourage students and non-NASA life scientists to par- 

 ticipate in mission-related research but should be careful not to encourage 

 unrealistic expectations of flight opportunities. 



— Announcements of Opportunity (AO's) should be targeted to a range of 

 experimental opportunities available on the Space Shuttle middeck, 

 Spacelab, free-fliers, Space Station, and on collaborative missions with 

 other countries, such as the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, 

 and Japan. 



— AO's should be scheduled for release on a regular basis to give investigators 

 the opportunity to plan their proposals and research programs. 



— Discipline Working Groups should be implemented to allow greater contact 

 between investigators and the NASA programs where AO solicitations are 

 initiated. 



• A new generation of ground-based and flight-certified instrumentation should 

 be developed to support the research objectives of the Life Sciences programs. 

 This instrumentation should include the following: 



Noninvasive monitoring techniques for biomedical applications 



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