51 USC § 40904 - Microgravity research

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t51/s40904"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "51 USC § 40904 - Microgravity research"
title_number: 51
title_name: "NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS"
section_number: "40904"
section_name: "Microgravity research"
chapter_number: 409
chapter_name: "MISCELLANEOUS"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 111–314, § 3, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3393.)"
---


# § 40904. Microgravity research

The Administrator shall—

**(1)** ensure the capacity to support ground-based research leading to space-based basic and applied scientific research in a variety of disciplines with potential direct national benefits and applications that can be advanced significantly from the uniqueness of microgravity and the space environment; and

**(2)** carry out, to the maximum extent practicable, basic, applied, and commercial International Space Station research in fields such as molecular crystal growth, animal research, basic fluid physics, combustion research, cellular biotechnology, low-temperature physics, and cellular research at a level that will sustain the existing United States scientific expertise and research capability in microgravity research.

---

**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 111–314, § 3, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3393.)

| RevisedSection | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 40904(1) | 42 U.S.C. 16655(2). | Pub. L. 109–155, title III, § 305(2), (3), Dec. 30, 2005, 119 Stat. 2918. |
| 40904(2) | 42 U.S.C. 16655(3). |  |