This is not the time to cut space-enabled medical research

Research that leverages space to develop treatments for blindness, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease is jeopardized by the $6.1 billion NASA budget cuts recently announced for 2026 by President Trump. The cuts to the International Space Station (ISS), forecasted to be $508 million, halt space research and development momentum, discourage investors, impede growth of the space manufacturing economy and supply chains, threaten the loss of specialized space talent and expertise and jeopardize the United States’ leadership position in space-based life science research. These cuts and their consequences are contrary to the administration’s stated commitment to support American medical and pharmaceutical research along with advanced manufacturing, and they ought to be reversed.