NASA Releases ISS 2025 Highlights Covering 750-Plus Studies Across 110 Nations
Updated
Updated · NASA · May 21
NASA Releases ISS 2025 Highlights Covering 750-Plus Studies Across 110 Nations
4 articles · Updated · NASA · May 21
NASA’s 2025 ISS annual highlights package says researchers conducted more than 750 investigations last year, spanning astronaut health, materials, power systems and atmospheric science.
Several results targeted future Moon and Mars missions: remote robotic surgery stayed accurate despite communication delays, and astronauts showed temporarily degraded piloting performance after long-duration flights.
Station experiments also produced practical hardware findings, including synthetic bone-graft structures formed in microgravity, fungal-melanin materials that best resisted radiation damage, and solid-state batteries that lost just 2% capacity after 434 days in space.
The report also points to Earth benefits, from regenerative medicine and remote surgery to severe-weather modeling based on observations of sprites, blue jets and elves above thunderstorms.
Across more than two decades, ISS research has involved over 110 nations, generated 4,000-plus experiments, more than 5,000 papers and over 100,000 scientific citations.
Will the move to competing commercial stations end the ISS's era of global science cooperation?
How soon will space-tested robotic surgery and 3D-printed bones be ready for astronauts on missions to Mars?
Can private US stations replace the ISS in time to counter China's growing presence in space?
ISS 2025: A Landmark Year for Scientific Breakthroughs, International Partnerships, and Commercial Space Expansion
Overview
In 2025, the International Space Station (ISS) reached a landmark moment, standing out as a vital hub for global scientific research and international collaboration. Building on its legacy of hosting over 280 astronauts from 26 countries and supporting more than 4,000 investigations, the ISS enabled a wide range of innovative research achievements. This strong foundation fostered an environment ripe for scientific breakthroughs and new partnerships, further solidifying the ISS’s pivotal role in advancing human knowledge and capabilities in space during this remarkable year.