DEBATE over the worth of the International Space Station is set to heat up, as its crew prepare to expand scientific research.
Some scientists have dismissed the ISS as a waste of money, arguing that it has produced few important advances. Its defenders counter that during the station’s assembly phase there have been too few crew members aboard to do much science.
Now the crew has grown to its full capacity of six for the first time, following a Soyuz flight that delivered three new members on 29 May. “It’s a real milestone,” says Howard McCurdy, a space policy…
