Source: Ellis Scherer, “The United States Needs Permanent Space Stations” (ITIF, February 9, 2026).
Commentary: The International Space Station (ISS), which has been in orbit since 2000, was built and operated in collaboration with the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and Russia as a research facility. Due to the zero-gravity environment on the ISS, researchers have been able to produce drug components that are otherwise impossible to produce on Earth, such as uniform protein crystals used in the development of immunotherapy cancer drugs. Over the past 26 years, researchers on the ISS have produced roughly 400 research papers and have helped to develop treatments for several diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. By 2030, NASA is set to deorbit the ISS and replace it with several space stations built and launched in collaboration with private contractors. These Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLDs) will be critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in microgravity drug development—especially as China’s Tiangong Space Station, operational since 2021, continues to expand its research capabilities and strategic presence in orbit.