The ISS

One useful thing that ISS could possibly do would be to study some aspects
of CELSS. Why not try some wet-oxidation process on the crew's sewage?
That might be a useful exercise within the capabilities of ISS. True, it
could be done on Earth, but there might be some quirks to implementing it
in microgravity that might be useful solving.

Also, some of the biology experiments could be useful. Why not send up
some fish tanks? Aquaculture seems like something that might work well in
microgravity; after all, organisms in the ocean feel the effects of
gravity much less than do land-dwelling organisms (I was just at the Shedd
Aquarium in Chicago last week, and I watched the Pacific white-sided
dolphins swimming rightside up, upside down, sideways, whatever --- they
don't seem to care!).

In fact, why not try to grow some of the crewmembers' food on ISS? Grow
as much as possible: let's see how much food they can grow, and how little
they need from the ground. Turn ISS into a big greenhouse and fish tank!

Ron Menich