National Geographic News @ nationalgeographic.com

This 28-foot (8.5-meter) cylinder will serve as a long-term platform for understanding how the extreme conditions of space affect materials and humans.

Until the arrival of Destiny to the International Space Station, U.S. scientists primarily could perform experiments in space for the duration of a Space Shuttle mission—about ten days.

After the new laboratory is set up, researchers can take advantage of month-long, even year-long, projects using multiple crew members as guinea pigs. A permanent orbiting science lab will greatly reduce the costs of conducting experiments.

Some of the research will include:

Effects of weightlessness on the human body, which builds on the research conducted on the Mir Space Station;

Growing protein crystals that will aid in drug development and treatment of diseases;

Biomedical research that will provide new insights into human health and disease prevention; and

Material science that will benefit by studying how different metals bind together in a near weightless environment to create super-alloys that are both strong and lightweight.

Studying simple things, like how to make a flame burn more efficiently, could save the United States $8 billion a year in heating costs.

Bringing Space Down to Earth

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is concerned with converting technologies used to launch rockets and protect humans in space into products that could be used in everyday life on Earth.

The "cool suit" created for space suits used on the Apollo moon missions are now helping multiple sclerosis patients improve their quality of life.

A miniature version of the pump that powers the Space Shuttle's engines is now regulating blood flow in human hearts.

Instruments to measure bone loss and bone density in astronauts without penetrating the skin are now being used in hospitals.

The Destiny lab will not be operational until about a month after delivery.

In the future, the European Space Agency and the National Space Development Agency of Japan will have their own science labs aboard the International Space Station, increasing the facilities for experiments.