On Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:02:01 -0500, "Val Kraut"
wrote:

Somewhat off topic - but I would really like to see a list of the things
that have been done on the ISS to date that justify it's existance, other
that fixing toilets in weightlessness, Things like new miracle drugs, new
manufacturing techniques, advances in chemistry and physics, Hell, I'd even
settle for something like "A Determination of the Effect of Weightlessness
and Low Atmospheric Pressure on the Mating Rituals of the Sub-Sahara Central
East African Tse Tse Fly While in the Presence of Atmospheric Constituents
Associated with Mid-Sized Primates with Limited Toilet Priviledges".

Keep in mind, ISS isn't finished. It didn't get its full-fledged
laboratories until 2008 (Destiny was there earlier, but it was used
mostly for command and control) didn't complete its power grid to run
them at 100% until last spring, and didn't get a full crew of six that
provided time for significant scientific work until last summer. So it
shouldn't come as a surprise that major advances and miracle drugs
have not yet appeared.

Except that, maybe one has: a vaccine for salmonella.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/0...a-vaccine.html

So if ISS has generated a vaccine for an illness that sickens millions
and kills thousands ever year, and did that before it was even fully
operational, then maybe it deserves more time and funding to do its
job.

But as Greg says, the ISS is a laboratory, and the vast majority of
laboratory work is mundane, seldom making headlines. Breakthroughs
come after years or decades of such work. ISS critics demand the
breakthroughs, but don't want to pay for the mundane work.

Brian