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Welcome to Outer Space View

Jul 20, 2017

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Editor’s note:  Starting today, you can now explore the International Space Station in Street View in Google Maps. Thomas Pesquet , Astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA), spent six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer. He returned to Earth in June 2017, and in this post he tells us about what it’s like to live on the ISS and his experience capturing Street View imagery in zero gravity.   

In the six months that I spent on the International Space Station, it was difficult to find the words or take a picture that accurately describes the feeling of being in space. Working with Google on my latest mission, I captured Street View imagery to show what the ISS looks like from the inside, and share what it’s like to look down on Earth from outer space.

For 16 years, astronauts have been working and living on the ISS, a structure made up of 15 connected modules that floats 250 miles above Earth. The ISS acts as a base for space exploration—possible future missions to the Moon,Mars and asteroids—and gives us a unique perspective on Earth itself. We can collect data on the Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land surface. We can conduct experiments and studies that we wouldn’t be able to do from Earth, like monitoring how the human body reacts to microgravity, solving mysteries of the immune system , studying   cyclones in order to alert populations and governments when a storm is approaching, or monitoring marine litter —the rapidly increasing amount of waste found in our oceans.

There were a few “firsts” on my mission. It was led by Peggy Whitson who, at age 56, became the oldest woman to fly into space and the first woman in history to command two expeditions. The mission was the first time Street View imagery was captured beyond planet Earth, and the first time annotations— helpful little notes that pop up as you explore the ISS—have been added to the imagery. They provide additional information or fun facts like where we work out to stay physically fit, what kind of food we eat, and where we conduct scientific experiments.

Because of the particular constraints of living and working in space, it wasn't possible to collect Street View using Google's usual methods. Instead, the Street View team worked with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama to design a gravity-free method of collecting the imagery using DSLR cameras and equipment already on the ISS. Then I collected still photos in space, that were sent down to Earth where they were stitched together to create panoramic 360 degree imagery of the ISS.

We did a lot of troubleshooting before collecting the final imagery that you see today in Street View. The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions—left, right, up, down. And it’s a busy place, with six crew members carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day. There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work. Oh, and there’s that whole zero gravity thing.

None of this would have been possible without the work of the team on the ground, my colleagues (turned roommates) on the ISS, and the countries that came together to send us up to space. Looking at Earth from above made me think about my own world a little differently, and I hope that the ISS on Street View changes your view of the world too.

Click here to go behind the scenes with Thomas and the team .

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Here's how to take a tour of the International Space Station using Google Earth

If you have ever dreamt of going to International Space Station or floating around in space, you can now have 360- degree virtual tour of the ISS. Here's how

The coronavirus outbreak has forced everyone to stay indoors and has put a full stop to many of your plans which you may have been deciding since a long time. In these tough times, when the entire world is confined to their homes, Google has decided to take you to space. 

The International Space Station has officially opened to the general public by way of virtual tours on Google Arts & Culture.

Google Earth, in collaboration with NASA, ESA, JAXA, Roscosmos and CASIS have got astronauts who are dwelling and working at ISS to collect the images of the inside of the space station and also let others know what it looks like to look at the Earth from outer space. 

Thus, if you have ever dreamt of going to International Space Station(ISS) or floating around in space, you can now have 360- degree virtual tour of the ISS and anybody with an internet connection can access it. Curious travellers can explore every aspect of the space station without leaving their home.

Thus by making use of the company's Street View technology, you can explore every inch of the space station without any hard work which is required to reach there.

Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA), spoke in his blog post. He said, "The mission was the first time Street View imagery was captured beyond planet Earth, and the first time annotations—helpful little notes that pop up as you explore the ISS—have been added to the imagery. They provide additional information or fun facts like where we work out to stay physically fit, what kind of food we eat, and where we conduct scientific experiments."

Although you won't get the feel of floating in the space, Google's digital exhibition lets you travel down any of ISS's long and winding tunnels. You can also get a view of the equipment packed rooms at the ISS. It also gives a view of the place where the crew members live and also at some of the personal items of the astronauts.

In his blog post, Thomas Pesquet also spoke about how they had to do a lot of troubleshooting before collecting the final imagery which is available to the viewers today. He said, "The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions—left, right, up, down. And it’s a busy place, with six crew members carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day. There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work".

Aimed at younger virtual space tourists, Google has also come up with an ISS-themed informational program. The show tells about the life in space and regular routine of the astronauts right from what they wear to what they eat.

Thus, you can virtually step inside the ISS using Google Earth and navigate different areas of the station. Here's how.

The first step is to open Google Earth.

Now, in the left-hand corner, click on the search bar and type International Space Station. Click and proceed further.

Now, from the options available, click on the guided tours.

From the table of contents in the drop-down menu, select the part of the station which you want to tour virtually.

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International Space Station panoramic tour

Node-3 Tranquillity provides life-support for the International Space Station. Part of Tranquility is ESA's Cupola observation module, a seven-window dome-shaped structure from where the Space Station's robotic arm, Canadarm 2, is operated as it offers a panoramic view of space and Earth. Launched on Space Shuttle flight STS-130 in February 2010, Node-3 was attached to the port side of Node-1 Unity. Read more on ESA's Node-3 minisite.

Explore Tranquility in Flickr , Facebook or Youtube  format with your mobile phone and virtual-reality headset, or take the full tour including all Space Station modules with videos and extra information below. We will release a new Space Station module in 360° every week on Thursday.

Previous releases:

• Explore Zvezda module via  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube .
• Explore Zarya module via  Flickr , Facebook or Youtube .
• Explore Unity module via  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube .
• Explore Destiny  module via  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube .
• Explore Harmony  module via  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube . 
• Explore Columbus module via  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube .
• Explore Kibo in  Flickr ,  Facebook  or  Youtube .

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Click here to explore in full screen

Just before ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti left the International Space Station after 199 days, she took up to 15 pictures inside each module. Now, the images have been stitched together to create this interactive panorama.

These panoramas offer a snapshot of the International Space Station as it was in June 2015, after moving the Leonardo storage module to a new location

Explore the modules and zoom in to see more detail. Use the map or the arrow icons by the module hatches to go to another section.

You can explore every part of the Space Station and click on the play icons to watch an astronaut explain or demonstrate an item, and click on the text icons for web articles.

We recommend exploring in a full screen to do justice to this immersive interactive panorama.

The tour was improved with the assistance of Thomas Rauscher in Vienna, Austria, who helped to stitch the images together for some modules.

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You Can Now Tour the International Space Station From the Comfort of Your Home

You can now travel to space without decades of hard work and training..

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Chances are the coronavirus outbreak has curtailed any ambitious summer vacation plans you may have had. But as far as Google is concerned, that doesn’t need to be the case. In fact, the internet giant wants to take you to space.

Google Arts & Culture now offers a full, 360-degree virtual tour of the International Space Station, and it’s accessible to anyone with internet access. Making use of the company’s Street View technology, the tour lets you explore every single nook and cranny of the 21-year-old space station without the decades of hard work and preparation that would normally require.

A look inside the International Space Station  Google Arts & Culture

While you won’t get to experience the feel of floating through the space station, Google’s digital exhibition feels like the next best thing. You can travel down any of ISS’s long and winding tunnels and look around all of its equipment-packed rooms. You can even check out the crew quarters and see some of the astronauts’ personal items.

In addition to the tour, Google has also whipped up a fun and educational ISS-themed informational program. Aimed specifically at younger virtual space tourists, the show attempts to illustrates what life on the station is like. It covers everything from what and how the visiting astronauts eat to the effect that zero-gravity takes on their bodies while they orbit the Earth.

Google Arts & Culture

If your virtual trip to the ISS has only managed to stoke your appetite for more space content, Google has you covered. The station tour is just one of several digital exhibitions Arts & Culture has on its Space Exploration page. Other exhibitions of interest include a closer look at the moon landing , a tribute to women who have gone to space , as well as scores of high-definition video content shot from space. Of course, if your virtual traveling interests are more earthbound, there’s still plenty of content for you to check out on Arts & Culture, too. The company also has countless virtual tours of tourist attractions, national parks and museums around the world.

Bryan Hood is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. Before joining the magazine, he worked for the New York Post, Artinfo and New York magazine, where he covered everything from celebrity gossip to…

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Want to tour the International Space Station? You can now use Google Street View

Google has launched an interactive tour of the International Space Station (ISS), allowing anyone to log in and explore from Earth.

It was only this week when Japanese scientists showed us how a tiny camera-touting robot ball drone is floating around the station taking footage and acting as a conduit between astronauts and ground teams, but now Google has given us even more of a glimpse of life in space.

On Thursday, Google said the latest update to Google Street View includes all 15 modules of the ISS, as well as two visiting docking vehicles as a 360-degree panorama. The tour has been launched to mark the 48th anniversary of the first manned mission landing on the moon, which took place on 20 July 1969.

The Columbus Research Laboratory is a multifunctional pressurized laboratory permanently attached to Node 2 of the ISS. The Columbus laboratory's flexibility provides room for the researchers on the ground, aided by the station's crew, to conduct thousands of experiments in life sciences, materials sciences, fluid physics and other research in a weightless environment not possible on Earth.

This is also the first Street View tour since the introduction of Google Arts & Culture museums which includes annotations, helping us understand the complex world astronauts live in aboard the ISS.

In a Google blog post , European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet said the annotations highlight everything from where astronauts work to stay physically fit, what kinds of food they eat, and where scientific experiments take place.

Take a tour with us below:

Explore the International Space Station with Google (in pictures)

From now, space enthusiasts can access the tour through the Planets page of Google Maps by clicking on the image of the International Space Station.

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Tour the International Space Station

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Travel to outerspace to peek inside the International Space Station ! You’ll get to explore inside the different modules that make up the ISS, including the Zvezda Service Module, the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), the Columbus Laboratory, Destiny, Zarya Functional Cargo Block, and Nodes 1, 2 & 3. You’ll also get to see a spectacular view of Earth, just like the astronauts!

• Title: Tour the International Space Station

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Explore the International Space Station With Google Street View

An astronaut and Google mapped the ISS for Street View with a DSLR and a lot of patience

Google Street View has taken armchair explorers to some of Earth's most exotic locations, from  the ancient ruins of  Angkor  and  Machu Picchu  to the natural wonders of the  Galapagos Islands  and the  Grand Canyon .  But its newest location is (literally) out of this world: the International Space Station. As  Thuy Ong reports for  The Verge ,​  you can now explore the ISS from your own computer screen without suffering the challenges  of spaceflight .

"In the six months that I spent on the International Space Station, it was difficult to find the words or take a picture that accurately describes the feeling of being in space," French astronaut Thomas Pesquet writes in a blog post  announcing the new Street View location. "Working with Google on my latest mission, I captured Street View imagery to show what the ISS looks like from the inside, and share what it’s like to look down on Earth from outer space."

According to Pesquet, the team couldn't use the bulky backpacks or car-mounted devices usually used to record Google Street View locations. Not only is it difficult to send new equipment to the station, it's a pretty cramped environment. And then there's the issue of microgravity.

"All of our Street View procedures are predicated on the existence of gravity," Stafford Marquardt jokes in a video about the new Street View. Tripods would have to be secured wherever they were positioned. And photos taken by hand run into the issue that the photographer is constantly floating. So the team had to get creative.

The basic idea is that the astronaut would take images of the space station using a DSLR camera already on the ISS. Then the images would be stitched back together on Earth. The problem is that  each image must be taken at a similar angle before being stitched, otherwise there would be seams or distortion in the final picture where the images didn't quite line up.

After testing out various methods on Earth, they decided that  Pesquet  would stretch two bungee cords in a cross section of the station. Then he would take images, rotating the camera around the center point where the bungee cords cross.

This isn't the first time non-traditional equipment has been used to add to the considerable library of Google Street View. An islander on Denmark's Faroe Islands used 360-degree cameras  strapped to sheep  to map the rocky archipelago, while divers in Australia recorded the Great Barrier Reef  with an underwater camera submarine .

Pesquet hopes that being able to explore this collaborative project orbiting thousands of miles above our planet and all of its borders will help people get perspective on the Earth.

"None of this would have been possible without the work of the team on the ground, my colleagues (turned roommates) on the ISS, and the countries that came together to send us up to space," Pesquet wrote in his blog post. "Looking at Earth from above made me think about my own world a little differently, and I hope that the ISS on Street View changes your view of the world too."

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Ben Panko is a staff writer for Smithsonian.com

Explore the International Space Station with Google Street View

Aspiring astronauts can now pretend to float on the International Space Station (ISS), thanks to Google. The company worked with astronauts on the orbiting complex to provide a Google Street View of the space station, from its science labs to its beautiful Earth-facing Cupola window. 

Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut who helped collect the images earlier this year, said in a blog post that the experience of capturing the tour "describes the feeling of being in space" better than words or a picture can. But there were limitations to collecting the data. For one, astronauts float in space, so the imagery of the ISS couldn't be captured the same way as other Google Street View locations.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama worked with Google to create a "gravity-free method of collecting the imagery," Pesquet said in the blog post. These methods included using DSLR cameras and other equipment already available at the space station. An extended video provides an additional look at how the view came together. (Pesquet didn't specify the other equipment in the blog post.) [ The International Space Station: Inside and Out (Infographic) ]

"I collected still photos in space, that were sent down to Earth where they were stitched together to create panoramic 360 degree imagery of the ISS," Pesquet wrote.

"We did a lot of troubleshooting before collecting the final imagery that you see today in Street View," he added. 

"The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions — left, right, up, down," Pesquet wrote. "And it's a busy place, with six crew members [at the time] carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day. There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work."

The tour is the first Google Street View captured in space, and it features annotations that pop up to explain additional information about each module, such as how astronauts stay physically fit or the kinds of food they eat.

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You can read the entire blog post here: https://www.blog.google/products/maps/welcome-outer-space-view/ and take a virtual tour of the International Space Station here in Google Street View: https://www.google.com/streetview/#international-space-station/

The ISS has been occupied continuously since November 2000. It generally houses three to six crewmembers, who split their days between science and maintenance activities. Crewmembers currently "commute" to space on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft , but within the next few years, commercial spacecraft from SpaceX and Boeing will ferry astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle's retirement in 2011.

Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com . 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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Go take a virtual tour of the International Space Station right now

By Mary Beth Griggs

Posted on Jul 20, 2017 9:26 PM EDT

Google’s street view takes us to some pretty wild places. From the comfort of your computer , you can visit a tiny train ‘Wunderland’ , pilot the Millennium Falcon , rock climb in Yosemite, or zip line through a rainforest, among many, many other adventures.

Now, you can also go to space and see the interior of the ISS in remarkable, 360-degree detail.

Float in space w/ new @Google Street View of @Space_Station ! See where crew exercise, conduct @ISS_Research + more: https://t.co/gJycxkdHcX pic.twitter.com/VqesnouCYs — NASA (@NASA) July 20, 2017

The new look at the space station was provided by astronauts, including Thomas Pesquet, who worked with Google to gather the data for what they’re calling Outer Space View .

In a blog post , Pesquet also notes that this is the first time annotations have been included in Google’s Street View, with helpful notes about different objects and places places all around the ISS.

Go on, explore. You already know that it’s literally out of this world.

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Take a virtual tour of the International Space Station

Cosmos Editorial

Ever wondered what it’s like to be an astronaut aboard the International Space Station? Now, thanks to the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Google, you can find out. {%recommended 677%}

Pesquet returned to Earth in June after six months as a European Space Agency astronaut on the ISS. During his trip, he made an exhaustive photographic survery of the interior of the station and sent the images down to Google engineers on Earth. They in turn stitched the photos together into 360-degree panoramas that can be navigated using the Google Street View interface. 

So what’s it like? Words like “cramped”, “cluttered” and “claustrophobic” spring to mind for this armchair astronaut, though the explanatory notes are fascinating and the views out the window are truly superb.

Take a look for yourself here . 

You can read more from Pesquet about the experience here and a video showing the behind-the-scenes process of mapping out the ISS and collecting the photos is below.

Originally published by Cosmos as Take a virtual tour of the International Space Station

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Take a Virtual Tour of the International Space Station (Video)

Here's your chance to see what the inside of the ISS is actually like.

Not everyone will get the chance to explore space, but this virtual tour of the International Space Station (ISS) comes pretty close.

Google Arts & Culture is a treasure trove for the history, art, and science lover. This platform has been around for a few years, but since the coronavirus outbreak started it has become a must-see for anyone who wants to enrich themselves during lockdown.

Virtual tours of museums, national parks, and popular tourist attractions have certainly been excellent ways to educate and entertain yourself at home, but there’s another collection of online tours and exhibits that space and science lovers should definitely see — including a 360-degree tour of the ISS .

This virtual tour uses Google Street View to explore the space station as if you’re really inside it. Move through the narrow tunnels, see the massive amounts of equipment, and generally experience what it’s like to be a real astronaut.

In addition, there are lots of other ways to explore space on Google Arts & Culture. One fascinating online exhibit is dedicated to the moon landing (which is coming up on its 51st anniversary this year). Take a deeper dive into the Apollo space program by exploring the hundreds of photos from the Apollo 11 mission, as well as stories on the Columbia Memorial Space Center and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Google Arts & Culture also has an amazing fact sheet that details 10 “out-of-this-world” facts about the International Space Station (ISS), which is perfect to help kids supplement their online learning experience while most schools are closed. Plus, there is a collection of eight truly stunning photographs from space that will make you appreciate our little blue planet even more.

There are also dozens of specific online exhibits to choose from, such as an exhibit focused on women in space, an exploration of aviation history, and a collection of videos that are all about space exploration.

For more information, take the virtual tour, or see an online space exhibit, visit the Space Exploration page on Google Arts & Culture.

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Boeing Starliner departure from space station remains delayed due to 'complicated' issues

After arriving at the international space station on june 6, astronauts suni williams and butch wilmore were expected to spend about eight days on the orbiting laboratory. however, issues with starliner's hardware prompted nasa managers to delay their return date..

Boeing Starliner launches 2 NASA astronauts into orbit for first time

ULA's Atlas V rocket launched on Wednesday morning from Florida sending the first Boeing Starliner capsule with crew into orbit. NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are conducting the crew flight test of Starliner and will spend about a week at the International Space Station. 

Boeing Starliner's first astronaut crew will spend additional weeks in orbit as ground teams complete more data reviews of ongoing issues with the spacecraft.

Starliner launched NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on June 5 from Cape Canaveral , Florida, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The pair is conducting the Crew Flight Test of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to certify the vehicle to fly crew as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX 's Crew Dragon vehicle also flies astronauts as part of the NASA program and is preparing for its ninth NASA astronaut mission this summer. 

BOEING STARLINER LIFTS OFF FLYING NASA ASTRONAUTS FOR FIRST TIME

After arriving at the International Space Station on June 6, Williams and Wilmore were expected to spend about eight days on the orbiting laboratory. However, issues with Starliner's hardware prompted NASA managers to delay their return date several times.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The latest delay was announced Friday when the space agency alluded to the astronauts' return not happening before July 2.

"We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process," Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement. "We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking. Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned."

After the Starliner undocks from the ISS, it will land in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Despite extending their mission more than twice the original timeline, the astronauts are in good spirits.

"They've been very positive about the whole thing," Stich said. "They love Starliner. They love being in the vehicle. They love being on the ISS. I think, you know, if you ask Butch and Suni, they might want to stay for a long period."

Astronauts provide on orbit tour of Boeing Starliner

NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams gave a tour of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft two days after docking at the International Space Station. 

Path forward to Starliner's landing

Teams recently completed a hot fire of the Starliner spacecraft's thrusters with the vehicle docked at the ISS to troubleshoot the issues encountered during docking when five thrusters failed. 

BOEING STARLINER SPACECRAFT DOCKS AT ISS WITH NASA ASTRONAUTS AFTER DRAMATIC APPROACH

Stich said the best place to test these issues is in orbit because they can replicate the thermal conditions on Starliner exactly, unlike simulations on Earth. The thruster issue is limited to the spacecraft's service module, which does not return to Earth with the crew module. 

A view of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station as the vehicle comes in for docking on June 6, 2024. 

When it returns to Earth, Starliner will face two big milestones that require the thrusters to orient the vehicle for landing. Teams are working to understand how the thrusters will perform during the deorbit burn.

NASA and Boeing's engineers continue to analyze five helium leaks discovered between the launch and docking. Stich said NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center teams are doing field testing to simulate the leak rates.

The spacecraft needs 7 hours of helium and has 70 hours of margin to reach the deorbit burn. 

"The path going forward is to continue to look at the helium system, continue to try to understand what's happening, again, look at simulations for the remainder of the flight," Sitch said. "What's our demand? What if we wave off? And what does that mean for the system?"

NASA said the crew is not on a confined schedule to leave the space station since there are plenty of supplies available in orbit.

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Bacteria on the ISS has mutated into something never seen on Earth

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In 2018, scientists discovered something unexpected lurking aboard the International Space Station . This unexpected visitor turned out to be five strains of a multi-drug-resistant bacteria known to cause Enterobacter bugandensis. Now, though, researchers say at least 13 strains have been discovered. This means that the original strains have mutated into several new strains of bacteria never before seen on Earth.

Of course, it’s impossible for any human to never come into contact with bacteria. However, with so many types linked to various illnesses, verifying what kind of bacteria is around, especially in essential places like the ISS, is important. Because the ISS is such a heavily controlled environment, the discovery of these new strains of bacteria has raised some intriguing questions about future space travel efforts.

A new study released in March looks in-depth at the new strains discovered aboard the ISS. This bacteria is an opportunistic pathogen, which means it will only cause disease in a person if they are already battling a disease or have a weakened immune system. Luckily, astronauts aboard the ISS are put through rigorous testing, so that isn’t often the case. But, as these astronauts spend more time in space, their immune systems weaken, which could give the bacteria a place to latch on.

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The researchers involved in the study believe that the unique environment that the bacteria found aboard the ISS could be what is driving it to mutate into bacteria never seen on Earth before. The hope is that these findings will help discover more about the microbial ecosystem dynamics within the ISS to help researchers come up with new ways to mitigate these threats going forward.

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Josh Hawkins has been writing for over a decade, covering science, gaming, and tech culture. He also is a top-rated product reviewer with experience in extensively researched product comparisons, headphones, and gaming devices.

Whenever he isn’t busy writing about tech or gadgets, he can usually be found enjoying a new world in a video game, or tinkering with something on his computer.

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