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When Apollo 16 took off for the Moon in 1972, the Federal Republic of Germany launched its first life science research project in space: the BIOSTACK experiment to study the intensity and composition of cosmic radiation became part of the Apollo missions. The TEXUS rocket programme was initiated in 1976 to pave the ground for the European space laboratory Spacelab, whose 1983 maiden flight on an American Space Shuttle raised microgravity research to an entirely new quality. The German Spacelab missions D-1 and D-2 followed and further cooperation between Europe and the US was realized during the Shuttle/Spacelab era in the frame of the so-called IML model. The German-Russian MIR’92 and MIR’97 missions, two EUROMIR missions by ESA, and several CNES missions to MIR provided Europe’s scientists with further attractive research opportunities, as did parabolic flights on an Airbus A300 from the late 1990s onward. A new chapter has been opened by the ISS and its European Columbus laboratory. In addition, terrestrial simulation capabilities for biology, as well as bed rest, isolation, and confinement studies for research in human physiology and psychology, prepare and complement life sciences research in space. |
