By David Bullock
Staff Writer

Fresh food is one item that astronauts aboard the International Space Station crave after long periods in space. But, supply ships from Earth only arrive ever few months, and food doesn’t stay fresh for very long. The problem will be even more acute for astronauts on long-duration missions to the moon and Mars.

Aleph Farms is working to solve part of the problem by developing technology that would allow future space explorers to grow their own steaks from bovine cells. The Israeli company is sending an experiment to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on Friday that will help scientists better understand how to grow the cells.

EXPLORATION PARK, Fla. (Space Florida PR) — Space Florida is proud to congratulate SpaceX for the successful docking of the CRS-10 mission with the ISS and to congratulate the 4 different experiments on board the Dragon capsule which were processed in the Space Life Sciences Lab (SLSL) in Exploration Park, Florida. Those experiments were as follows: Customer: CASIS/MERCK PI: Paul Reichert Protein crystal growth – pharmaceutical research (chemotherapy) Customer: Edith […]

EXPLORATION PARK, Fla., Dec. 16, 2014 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida is pleased to announce that the University of Zurich, Switzerland recently signed a three-year lease to process future research destined for the International Space Station (ISS), at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL), near Kennedy Space Center. Space Florida has invested significant resources in the SLSL over the past four years to transition it to a world-class, multi-tenant commercial research and development facility.

The new, three-year lease is effective on January 1, 2015. The lease was negotiated through a joint effort between Space Florida, the University of Zurich and CSS-Dynamac Science Concierge Services, who provides pre-flight, post-landing and ground control support laboratory space and services for the University.

(more…)

University of Zurich CellBox experiment integration two days prior to launch. (Credit: University of Zurich/Space Florida)

EXPLORATION PARK, Fla., June 3, 2014 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida and the University of Zurich, Switzerland are pleased to announce the successful launch and return of the first international, commercial experiment processed at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) at Exploration Park, Florida.

(more…)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., MAY 17, 2013 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida, the state’s aerospace development organization and spaceport authority, today announced that The Bionetics Corporation, a diversified engineering and applied sciences company, is the newest tenant of the Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) at the Kennedy Space Center.

Bionetics, headquartered in Yorktown, Va., enhances spaceflight systems through the development of unique LED lighting and enables microgravity-based life sciences research. The newest SLSL location is the sixth of its Florida sites.

(more…)