Life in SpaceEdition 1

A little-known yet critical part of NASA history

Life in Space explores the many aspects and outcomes of NASA’s research in life sciences, a little-understood endeavor that has often been overlooked in histories of the space agency. Maura Mackowski details NASA’s work in this field from spectacular promises made during the Reagan era to the major new directions set by George W. Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration in the early twenty-first century.

At the first flight of NASA’s space shuttle in 1981, hopes ran high for the shuttle program to achieve its potential of regularly transporting humans, cargo, and scientific experiments between Earth and the International Space Station. Mackowski describes different programs, projects, and policies initiated across NASA centers and headquarters in the following decades to advance research into human safety and habitation, plant and animal biology, and commercial biomaterials. Mackowski illuminates these ventures in fascinating detail by drawing on rare archival sources, oral histories, interviews, and site visits.