KSC-based nonprofit to manage ISS national lab

NASA today named a group of partners led by Space Florida to run a nonprofit that will manage the portion of the International Space Station designated as a U.S. national laboratory.

Called the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, the organization will be based at the state-operated Space Life Sciences Lab on Kennedy Space Center property.

"This agreement helps us ensure the station will be available for broad, meaningful and sustained use," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement.

Read NASA's press release here.

The agreement covers management of about half of the U.S.-controlled science capacity on the station's U.S. segment, which includes European and Japanese labs.

NASA will retain responsibility for its own research focused on exploration with its half of the U.S. capacity. The nonprofit will work with private industry, universities and other government agencies to best make use of the other half.

With station assembly now complete, NASA says it is now focused on fully utilizing the space station and maximizing a return on investment in the $100 billion complex.

Creation of the nonprofit management organization was required under the 2010 NASA Authorization Act. The station was designated a national lab facility in 2005.

The nonprofit is expected to be funded with up to $15 million annually. A formal contract award is expected later this summer.