Malassezia
sp., were the most characterized on the ISS. Neither of those organisms are harmful, and the overall ISS surface microbiome was monopolized by human skin organism associations. “Overall, the ISS surface composition was extremely stable beyond a few small changes during our five-year study,” said Dr. Jaing. “It’s a dynamic process, just like the human body. The ISS antimicrobial resistance gene profiles also were stable over time, with no differences over the span of the MT-1 and MT-2 studies. This means that the ISS microbiome doesn’t have any new antibiotic-resistant genes, which is safer for the astronauts.
While this study was conducted using samples returned to Earth from the ISS, NASA can observe microbes on the ISS in real time and is also looking into real time microbial monitoring on future spacecraft, as well.to seven astronauts from the United States, Russia, and Japan, which is the maximum number of astronauts the ISS can accommodate for long durations. Since the first module of the ISS was launched in 1998, 263 astronauts from 20 countries have visited the ISS, as of.