NASA to film an Estée Lauder ad in space as the ISS opens for business

By Mark Harris

International Space Station over the planet Earth. NASA’s funding for the International Space Station is due to end in 2024

Shutterstock/NASA

LAST year, NASA declared the International Space Station open for business. Although firms could already do research on the ISS under contract with NASA, the agency hoped to stimulate pure commerce, including the manufacture of biotech and the development of on-orbit industries that could support NASA’s deep space exploration goals – not to mention bringing in some cash.

Instead, it got beauty product marketing with Estée Lauder, sports shoe design with Adidas and the transport of space tourism …

Article amended on
17 September 2020

We have amended this article to clarify how much time NASA astronauts will have to do science.