ESA's participation in the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) mission

The second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) mission was a truly international event, paving the way for cooperation in the scientific utilisation of the forthcoming International Space Station. ESA provided several major facilities for conducting research in microgravity, as did France and Germany. The facilities were used jointly with scientists from the US; in exchange, NASA provided the mission itself. Several experiments measured and characterised the microgravity environment and the astronauts' response to spaceflight conditions. Others were in the fields of biology, biotechnology, fluid dynamics, crystal growth and alloy solidification, and near-critical-point investigations. Another important objective of the mission was to demonstrate remote payload operations or telescience. Using that method, principal investigators monitored and controlled their flight experiments from various user centres and laboratories across Europe. This approach is proving to be a very efficient and cost-effective way to conduct and optimise scientific research, and it will become increasingly important as long-duration access to space becomes available.