Stefanie Countryman News

Research in space, helping people on Earth: BioServe marks 100th orbital launch

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:28:51 +0000

Research in space, helping people on Earth: BioServe marks 100th orbital launch Jeff Zehnder Mon, 04/21/2025 - 14:28

Louis Stodieck remembers the first time he saw a space shuttle blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In April 1991, Stodieck, an aerospace engineer, was the associate director of BioServe Space Technologies, a research center at the ��ɫ��Ƶ.

He had helped to design a set of test tubes that would, among other things, not spill the moment they reached space. Stodieck handed the test tubes off to a NASA crew, then watched as his work lifted away from a launchpad aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.

“I never get tired of launches,” said Stodieck, who served as BioServe’s director from 1999 to 2019 and is now its chief scientist. “The sound reaches you seconds after the launch because you’re a few miles away. When it hits you, it’s this low vibration, and you just feel it.”

BioServe founder Marvin Luttges in 1989. (Credit: BioServe)

The BioServe team poses for a photo in 1996. (Credit: BioServe)

A test tube designed for space by BioServe. (Credit: BioServe)

BioServe, which was founded in 1987, works with scientists at companies and research institutions around the world to conduct life science experiments in space.

Today, Stodieck and his colleagues are celebrating a new milestone: BioServe’s 100th launch into orbit.

On Monday, April 21, a SpaceX Dragon capsule lifted off from a similar pad in Florida en route to the International Space Station (ISS). It carried equipment belonging to three research projects, or “payloads,” developed by BioServe. They include several colonies containing billions of bacteria and algae.

“This launch is an amazing milestone,” said Stefanie Countryman, the current director of BioServe. “It exemplifies the hard work of everybody at BioServe, not just our engineers and researchers, but also our students.”

The center has come a long way since that first launch, NASA’s STS-37 mission, in 1991.

Researchers at the center have since sent a wide range of living things into orbit. They include single-celled organisms but also ants, silkworms, mice and an intrepid “spidernaut” named Nefertiti. (An 18-year-old student from Egypt proposed studying whether Nefertiti, a jumping spider, could adjust her hunting techniques in space, which she did). But BioServe has also kept one foot planted on the ground. The center’s research has generated new insights into human medical conditions like bone loss and cancer—and could even lead to facilities in the not-so-distant future that orbit Earth while making human stem cells.

“Space gives us an opportunity to look at organisms in new ways, including how they may express genes differently than they do on Earth,” Countryman said.

Single-celled astronauts

David Klaus, professor at the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, was a graduate student at ��ɫ��Ƶ when BioServe’s first launch took off. From 1985 to 1990, he worked as a shuttle launch controller at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and in Mission Control in Houston. Klaus is set to retire this spring and sees the 100th BioServe launch as a “bookend” on his career.

In those early days, BioServe’s work largely revolved around one challenge of conducting science from hundreds of miles above Earth—open liquids and space don’t mix.

“It’s not like taking two test tubes in a lab on Earth and mixing them together,” Klaus said. “With our early payloads, we were really just trying to figure out how we could manipulate biological fluids in a space environment and get some initial experimental results.”

BioServe began as a 5-year grant from NASA under founder Marvin Luttges, a professor of aerospace engineering sciences at ��ɫ��Ƶ. Klaus explained that the center’s space test tubes include up to four sealed chambers. If you push down on a plunger, you can mix the fluids in those chambers one by one, all without exposing them to the air. BioServe has since sent thousands of its test tubes into space, and the basic design remains largely the same.

The team’s early research also revealed something surprising: BioServe scientists discovered that bacteria tend to grow better in space than they do on Earth—perhaps because they’re not being squished down by gravity. A handful of experiments showed that such bacteria could even be transformed into living factories for making anti-cancer drugs.

Astronaut Jessica Meir uses a microscope supplied by BioServe aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

A lab 250 miles up

In the decades that followed, BioServe’s scientific equipment wound up on NASA’s four space shuttles, the Russian space station Mir and, eventually, the ISS, which entered into orbit in 1998.

Today, astronauts on the ISS can peer through a microscope flight certified and launched by BioServe and grow cell cultures in four incubators called Space Automated Bioproduct Lab (SABL) 1, 2, 3 and 4. BioServe even supplied the refrigerator where humans on the ISS store their food. On the ground, the center runs a mission operation and control center on the ��ɫ��Ƶ campus. There, BioServe staff talk to astronauts in real time on a giant screen.

“We’re replicating the sorts of biological labs that you can find at ��ɫ��Ƶ in space,” said Tobias Niederwieser, a research associate at BioServe.

Astronaut Alexander Gerst loads biological cultures into a SABL incubator on the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

Adeline Loesch assembles space "petri dishes" containing biological organisms in a lab on the ��ɫ��Ƶ campus. (Credit: Adeline Loesch)

The center has also collaborated with dozens of space agencies, universities and private companies over its history. On the current launch, for example, a company called Sophie’s Bionutrients based in the Netherlands contracted with the center to examine how algae produce proteins in space—which the company hopes will lead to new kinds of algae-based meat substitutes.

The center’s most lasting contribution to science, however, may be its students. Over the years, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students at ��ɫ��Ƶ have worked for BioServe. Many have gone on to jobs at NASA and private space companies.

They include Adeline Loesch, a senior studying atmospheric and oceanic sciences at ��ɫ��Ƶ. She started working at BioServe between her freshman and sophomore years. These days, she does a little bit of everything for the center: She helps to build the hardware for experiments, assembles them for flight and sits in the operations center as astronauts carry out the research.

In the fall, Loesch will start work in spacecraft and satellite flight operations for Lockheed Martin in Colorado.

“My favorite is watching the projects come full circle during the operations,” Loesch said. “Watching the research being done in real time by astronauts in space is the coolest thing ever.”

Making humans healthier from space

In the end, BioServe’s research in space doesn’t stay in space.

Roughly 24 years ago, for example, Stodieck and his colleagues designed a specialized habitat for mice to live on the ISS. His team’s research has revealed new clues to why mammals lose bone mass when they leave Earth. Those insights, in turn, helped to inspire new kinds of medications for osteoporosis in people.

Niederwieser, meanwhile, is tackling what may be an even more ambitious goal—he and his colleagues are growing human hematopoietic stem cells in space. Doctors often transplant these cells into people to treat cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

But they’re also tricky and expensive to make on Earth. In a few early experiments, Niederwieser and his colleagues discovered that stem cells, like bacteria, may grow more freely in space. Later this year, his team plans to transport a facility for producing stem cells en masse to the ISS.

That could lead to a new vision for space—one in which stations in orbit around Earth produce various treatments for human illnesses, then send them back to patients on the ground.

“Humans have been on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years and have evolved with only one gravity,” Stodieck said. “It’s really been a privilege to understand how organisms work in another environment.”

Stodieck didn’t travel to Florida for Monday’s launch, but Klaus was there to see SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket roar off the launchpad. Before he left, he was feeling wistful about seeing his old stomping grounds again.

“I'm looking forward to going down there and reminiscing a little bit,” Klaus said. “I’ll drive around and look at the base—a little 40-year flashback to where my career started.”

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Heart experiments to help astronauts live better in space

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 16:29:15 +0000

Heart experiments to help astronauts live better in space Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/05/2023 - 10:29

Jeff Zehnder

An astronaut working with one of the experiments aboard the International Space Station.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are hard at work on research guided by students and researchers from the ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Two cardiovascular tissue experiments were launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX CRS-27 on March 15, 2023 and ��ɫ��Ƶ’s BioServe Space Technologies developed the hardware for both. The research stems from National Institutes of Health grants led by Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University.

“When astronauts go to space it can have negative impact on their cardiovascular systems,” said Stefanie Countryman, director of BioServe. “Our organs evolved to work here on Earth so they function differently in space. The goal with both of these projects is to better understand how these treatments impact cardiovascular issues in Earth bound people and to advance treatments that could be provided to astronauts before launch or while in space.”

BioServe has been designing, building, and flying microgravity life science research experiments and hardware since 1987. Government space agencies, universities, and private companies like SpaceX frequently contract with BioServe to take advantage of the center’s longstanding experience in space research.

The two experiments launched on March 15 include specialized hardware developed by BioServe specifically for these projects and will also utilize BioServe’s Space Automated Bioproduct Lab, an orbiting incubator that has been in use on ISS since 2015.

One of the experiments and its enclosure before launch here on Earth.

Past heart studies have shown that just four weeks of microgravity exposure causes significant changes in cell function and gene expression that could lead to long-term damage or cardiac muscle atrophy.

The Stanford experiment utilizes simplified heart tissues to test pharmaceuticals that could reduce microgravity-induced changes in heart cell function. Meanwhile the Johns Hopkins project aims to study human cardiomyocyte functional performance and the potential of specific therapeutics to prevent negative impacts.

While both projects are intended to help astronauts in space, the research could eventually also improve life for people here on Earth suffering from heart conditions due to aging or abnormalities that lead to a weakening of the heart muscle.

“Being able to design the hardware to support research like this for cell cultures and tissue engineering is very specialized,” Countryman said.

In addition to the hardware development, BioServe also conducts live uplinks with astronauts to walk them through the experiments. As both a research facility and educational center, BioServe employs full time staff and students to advance their work.

“Undergrad and grad students are responsible for assembly of hardware and kit design and helping during uplinks with the crew. Students are an integral part of operations,” Countryman said.

The one downside to working with astronauts is frequent late nights. ISS astronauts live and work on Coordinated Universal Time, so the crew day begins at 1:30 a.m. Colorado time. That means uplinks frequently occur long after most Americans have gone to sleep.

“It’s a small price to pay to work with people in space,” Countryman said.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are hard at work on research guided by students and researchers from the ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Two cardiovascular tissue experiments were...

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20 Years Focusing on the Commercial Development of Space

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:21:30 +0000

20 Years Focusing on the Commercial Development of Space Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/30/2020 - 11:21

The commercialization of space is a busy field today, with an array of businesses conducting research aboard the International Space Station and flying resupply ships and now even astronauts, but 20 years ago it was a lonely road occupied by only a scarce few organizations, including the ��ɫ��Ƶ's BioServe Space Technologies, founded in 1987. Director Stefanie Countryman reflects on how the exploration of space has changed in a special blog on the ISS National Lab website:

Twenty years ago, I was one of the few people out knocking on doors of the pharmaceutical, biotech, agricultural, and even forestry industry peddling space life science research. I cannot sugarcoat it. It was an incredibly challenging task, and I had my share of puzzled looks, smirks, laughs, and jokes at my expense.

BioServe launched its first experiment to space onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-37) in 1991 and its first mission to the ISS on April 19, 2001. The experiment launched to the ISS was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, was the first commercially supported life science experiment to launch to the ISS, and occurred just five months after the first crew arrived there! It was also almost exactly one year after this groundbreaking launch that I found myself working for BioServe. Now, almost 20 years after we launched our first mission to the ISS, I look back realizing I never dreamed I could be a part of such an historic milestone—20 years of human-tended presence onboard the ISS and 20 years of BioServe-supported and commercially sponsored research onboard the ISS!

Read Stefanie's full post @ ISSNationalLab.org

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Adapting research to social distancing on campus

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:33:53 +0000

Adapting research to social distancing on campus Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/22/2020 - 10:33

Jeff Zehnder

Tobias Niederwieser and Alexander Hoehn in a BioServe laboratory with five FRIDGE units slated for delivery to NASA and the International Space Station. Two of the units shipped to the space agency Thursday, June 18.

BioServe Space Technologies shares insights from three months of research largely alone on campus

After large portions of the ��ɫ��Ƶ shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, you could practically hear a pin drop on campus. But in the Aerospace Building, an array of space-critical research projects at BioServe Space Technologies has continued.

BioServe designs, builds and operates life-science equipment and experiments for NASA and private space contractors used on the International Space Station. With rocket launches still on the calendar, the center’s work had to go on even as much of campus shuttered.

“Very early on, NASA sent notice that all work associated with launches and the ISS was to be considered mission essential/critical and due dates would not be changing,” said Stefanie Countryman, director of BioServe.

Their workers have been on the forefront of health and safety changes implemented by ��ɫ��Ƶ, requiring on-campus employees to use personal protective equipment, follow new safety procedures, and maintain strict social distancing. They say patience and flexibility will be essential for other researchers as modified activities resume on campus.

"The pace of some things is slower because on-site capacity is reduced," said Matt Vellone, a BioServe payload engineer. “Work needs to be planned differently in order to still get multiple projects moving forward. Since external deadlines haven't been relaxed, there's more multitasking and nontraditional scheduling."

Vellone and others in BioServe emphasized work time flexibility – "early mornings, later evenings, weekends" – for hitting deadlines. The inability to gather and work in groups has required people to come in at odd hours. Although not ideal, their team has been understanding.

The end of in-person meetings has been a double-edged sword.

"Communication is not the same. You can focus more on your work, but it's not conducive to hallway discussions and impromptu meetings that often end up being incredibly helpful to identifying issues and solving them throughout the day," Countryman said.

BioServe Senior Research Associate Alexander Hoehn agreed.

"Communication is less efficient. There’s a lack of ad-hoc hallway coordination, but the quiet has also been great for productivity – there’s less nuisance and interruption. It's definitely a less stressful and more productive environment," Hoehn said.

Countryman emphasized the importance of scheduling online video meetings to bridge the discussion gap.

"Video conferencing as opposed to teleconferencing makes a big difference. I didn’t realize how much until I got a video camera,” Countryman said. “Even if it is only online, seeing someone’s face goes a long way to feeling like you are all still part of a team.”

��ɫ��Ƶ is in the midst of a phased return to on-campus research and creative work in summer 2020. In this series, CU Engineering researchers share tips, tricks and takeaways as they navigate a new approach to research prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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CU researchers get at the heart of the problem on ISS

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 15:50:34 +0000

CU researchers get at the heart of the problem on ISS Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/22/2019 - 09:50

Researchers at BioServe Space Technologies are developing a system to test heart function in microgravity. The results of their work could help NASA understand the long-term effects of space on astronauts’ hearts as well as common issues like arrhythmias back down on Earth.

The newly awarded project is a partnership with the University of Washington in association with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences within the National Institute of Health. The goal is to modify an existing ground-based microphysiological system (MPS) for testing on the International Space Station.

The MPS, lined with living human cells, creates miniature 3D engineered heart tissues that contract outside of the human body. These can then be used to rapidly test drugs or for disease modeling without the drawbacks of animal testing. On the ISS, researchers can use these systems to study how microgravity speeds up or creates cardiac problems on a small and controllable scale.

Stefanie Countryman, the associate director of BioServe, is leading the project at CU. It will head to the ISS in the late-first quarter of 2020.

“Microgravity can be used as an accelerated cardiovascular disease model for cardiac problems observed on Earth,” she said. “We know the same types of heart problems that can occur in astronauts in space can also occur to people on the ground over longer durations. So, microgravity and engineered heart tissues can potentially be used as a platform for testing different types of drugs for different types of cardiac issues.”

Countryman said her team will modify the already functioning ground system for these types of experiments and prepare it for use in space under the grant. That means meeting specific health and safety requirements from NASA as well as usability constraints like working in microgravity and collecting data.

BioServe Space Technologies is a research center in the Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the ��ɫ��Ƶ. This is one of several similar projects the center is part of through National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The center’s partners in those projects and others include large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and NASA-funded researchers. Both undergraduate and graduate ��ɫ��Ƶ students are involved in BioServe research efforts.

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Health experiments launch for space station

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:30:27 +0000

Health experiments launch for space station Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/07/2018 - 09:30

Bacteria will be soon be under the microscope in outer space as four new ��ɫ��Ƶ-led biological experiments are set to begin aboard the International Space Station.

The research projects, which are supported by ��ɫ��Ƶ’s BioServe Space Technologies, will examine how the human immune system changes as people get older, the danger that bacteria pose to mechanical equipment and more. Payloads for the four experiments launched Dec. 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will berth at the space station on Saturday.

BioServe is a research center in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. The center’s engineers and scientists work to transform spacecraft in low-Earth orbit into high-tech laboratories for biological research. The team collaborates with astronauts to carry out experiments and design new equipment to function in the challenging environment of microgravity.

Since it was founded in 1987, BioServe has helped to launch hundreds of space studies, many of which have focused on improving the health and safety of people—including astronauts on long journeys and ordinary citizens on the ground.

“It is exciting to impact human health in a positive way on Earth through research conducted in space,” said Stefanie Countryman, associate director of BioServe.

The center’s partners include large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and NASA-funded researchers. Both undergraduate and graduate ��ɫ��Ƶ students are involved in BioServe research efforts. 

The four new studies focus on:

Fungi in space

Researchers at NASA will explore how fungal cells belonging to the species Candida albicans grow in the absence of gravity. These fungi are normally harmless but can cause serious infections in people with compromised immune systems. That makes them a potential danger to astronauts who are more susceptible to disease because of the rigors of space travel.

Corrosive behavior

It’s not just humans at risk: Single-celled organisms pose a danger to electronic components and other equipment, too. An experiment led by the Texas-based company NALCO Champion will investigate how bacteria corrode carbon steel surfaces, both on Earth and in space. On the ground, such microbes can damage oil pipelines and other materials around the world, causing an estimated $485 billion to $1.5 trillion in losses every year.

Mouse astronauts

Like humans, rodents who spend long periods of time in space can exhibit signs of accelerated aging, including bone loss, declining heart health and more. In a long-running series of studies, researchers at the non-profit organization the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) have probed the impact of space travel on mice. Their findings could provide new clues to how scientists might safeguard the health of astronauts en route to Mars or treat the impacts of aging in older adults.

Aging immune systems

A team led by the University of California, San Francisco will use the International Space Station to explore another impact of aging: immunosenescence, or the decreased ability of people to fight off disease as they get older. The group will study how human white blood cells and stems cells behave in microgravity with an eye toward better understanding how aging impacts immune system health and the body’s capacity to regenerate tissue.

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Bioserve providing hardware for space experiment on the immune system response

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 22:06:58 +0000

Bioserve providing hardware for space experiment on the immune system response Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/17/2018 - 16:06

Josh Rhoten

Something happens to the human immune system as we age, making it harder for us to fight off disease and causing other problems with things like vaccines. Rather than waiting for the population to grow old to test how and why this happens, scientists and engineers are sending cells into space for testing where microgravity works to suppress the immune system in much the same way.

Bioserve Space Technologies, a research center in the Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the ��ɫ��Ƶ, is currently designing and testing the space systems needed for these experiments – the hardware that keeps liquids in petri dishes rather than floating around loose in zero gravity for example.

The work is being done in partnership with pharmaceutical company Sanofi and was funded in June through an award of $450,000 from the Center for Advancement of Science in Space and will launch on SpaceX 19 in October of next year for the International Space Station.

When ready, the experiment will bring frozen lymphocytes – cells in the blood that help the immune system – from young and old donors into space to see how they function there, said Stefanie Countryman, associate director of BioServe.

“If you can understand why some vaccines don’t work well for older people, or why the immune system doesn’t function as well when you get older, you could potentially develop vaccines that work better for that population,” she said. “By taking this experiment into space, the work can be done much faster and without a large population of donors among other advantages. The bottom line is it’s a way to use space environment to find out something you couldn’t do on the ground.”

Countryman said the team has finished the initial studies needed for the experiment and are now finalizing procedures the astronauts will use.

BioServe was founded by NASA in 1987. The center’s partners include large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and NASA-funded researchers. Both undergraduate and graduate ��ɫ��Ƶ students are involved in BioServe research efforts.

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Bioserve experiments launch from Cape Canaveral

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 19:05:57 +0000

Bioserve experiments launch from Cape Canaveral Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/29/2018 - 13:05

Two experiment payloads designed and built at ��ɫ��Ƶ are scheduled to blast off for the International Space Station in the early hours of June 29.

The payloads, which will launch on board the SpaceX Dragon capsule, will support the study of new treatments for cancer and bacteria that can produce electricity. They’re the latest in a series of experiments developed by BioServe Space Technologies to be carried out by astronauts in microgravity. BioServe is a research center in ��ɫ��Ƶ’s Ann and H.J Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering.

The center’s latest studies will deliver results that matter not just for spaceflight buffs but for people on Earth, said Stefanie Countryman, associate director of BioServe. The launch is scheduled to take place at 5:42 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

BioServe works with scientists from across the country to help them send their experiments into space, including by building custom hardware that will work on the International Space Station and training astronauts in experimental protocols. BioServe has launched hundreds of life science experiments to date, including studies probing how space travel accelerates bone loss in mammals and how spiders weave webs in microgravity.

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SpaceX to launch CU-built heart, bone health experiments to space station

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:45:46 +0000

SpaceX to launch CU-built heart, bone health experiments to space station Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/05/2017 - 13:45

A SpaceX rocket was slated to launch two ��ɫ��Ƶ-built payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida on Thursday, including one to look at changes in cardiovascular stem cells in microgravity that may someday help combat heart disease on Earth.

The second payload will be used for rodent studies testing a novel treatment for bone loss in space, which has been documented in both astronauts and mice. The two payloads were developed by BioServe Space Technologies, a research center within the Ann and H.J Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering,

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SpaceX launch carrying ��ɫ��Ƶ BioServe cargo

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:02:43 +0000

SpaceX launch carrying ��ɫ��Ƶ BioServe cargo Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/16/2017 - 09:02

Several students are playing significant roles in the upcoming launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying two ��ɫ��Ƶ payloads – one designed to help researchers better understand and perhaps outsmart dangerous infections like MRSA, another to help increase the proliferation of stem cells in space, a potential boon for biomedical therapy on Earth.

Shelby Bottoms and Ben Lewis, both master’s students in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, are in Florida for the upcoming launch of the SpaceX rocket carrying the ��ɫ��Ƶ-built payloads. Both are helping to assemble flight hardware designed and built by ��ɫ��Ƶ’s BioServe Space Technologies for the launch Feb. 18 to the International Space Station (ISS).

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