§18354 Management of the Iss National Laboratory

Summary

NASA must give startup funding and sign a cooperative agreement with a nonprofit that is tax-exempt under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) to run the ISS National Laboratory. The nonprofit must build the ability to do research projects and manage the lab. It must work only on managing the lab and promoting its long-term research mission. NASA must name a person from the Space Operations Mission Directorate to be the official liaison, and the nonprofit must work with and consult that liaison. The startup funds must be used to plan and run the lab, make rules and selection criteria for non‑NASA users, work with the International Space Station National Laboratory Advisory Committee, handle transport needs (sending up and bringing back experiments and samples), help support ground facilities (including the Space Life Sciences Laboratory, the Space Station Processing Facility, and the Payload Operations Integration Center), and run outreach and education. Experiments managed by the lab are guaranteed at least 50 percent of U.S. research capacity on the ISS — including power, cold stowage, and crew time — through at least September 30, 2030, with needed upmass and downmass. NASA can give more capacity if available. If NASA needs capacity beyond 50 percent, it must submit the work as a requested research opportunity under the lab’s process; until September 30, 2030, the liaison may allow exceptions for essential exploration work if both parties agree. The nonprofit must consider the National Academies Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space when setting priorities, and NASA keeps responsibility for payload integration and flight safety before, during, and after missions.