Fifty Years of Trying: from Skylab to Capsules
Why has in-space manufacturing been promised for decades, and what is different now?
Chapter summary
every generation since Skylab in 1973 has expected microgravity factories, and each has been stopped by cost, access and the steady improvement of ground techniques.
Key takeaways
- 1
NASA's Space Shuttle hosted commercial experiments in the 1980s, including McDonnell Douglas's electrophoresis work for Johnson & Johnson, which planned a factory that was abandoned after the Challenger accident and better ground methods.
- 2
The ISS opened a permanent laboratory, and since 2011 the ISS National Lab has sponsored more than 1,000 payloads.
- 3
What changed after 2020 is cost and cadence: rideshare launch at about $7,000 per kilogram, small reusable capsules and private capital.
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