Groundbreaking Standards Group on “Space Biotech, Pharmaceuticals, and Advanced Manufacturing Payloads” Established, OSC Joins

ASTM F47 Committee on Commercial Space Flight at the committee’s fall plenary meetings in Washington DC, September 14, 2026.  Front row, fourth from the left is Dr. Minh Nguyen, Deputy Associate Administrator for the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).

On September 14, the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) partnered with commercial space industry leaders and stakeholders at the ASTM Committee F47 on Commercial Space Flight meeting to advance commercial spaceflight through global standards development. The organization’s fall plenary sessions opened in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

The group welcomed Minh Nguyen, Ph.D, Deputy Associate Administrator for the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), for special remarks and a great dialogue. As discussions unfolded, a landmark moment arrived when the executive committee officially voted to form a groundbreaking new subgroup:

F47.06, dedicated to “Space Biotech, Pharmaceuticals, and Advanced Manufacturing Payloads.”

This new subcommittee will develop and maintain essential voluntary consensus standards for payloads that host applied research and commercial products across space biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, and advanced manufacturing.  These key fields are currently advancing research and production beyond Earth.

To establish operational standards adapted for microgravity, the subcommittee will define best practices for space-derived and space-made products, encompassing controls and analogs flight materials, preflight prep, in-orbit operations, and postflight evaluation and processing. Key priorities include developing core standards chain of custody documentation, environmental conditions, containment, in-orbit protocols, and life cycle quality control. These guidelines will apply across crewed and uncrewed payloads on the International Space Station, commercial orbital platforms, and suborbital architectures.

By creating new frameworks, partnering with external stakeholders, and collaborating with related ASTM committees, the subgroup aims to spur innovative research and development and enhance commercial space competitiveness in alignment with the President’s Executive Order on “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.”

The subcommittee will be chaired by Olivia Gamez Holzhaus, M.S., Rhodium Scientific and the International Space Station National Laboratory User Advisory Committee for Commercial Services Providers. Founding members of the subgroup include Dr. Dianne Poster, OSC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Dr. Cameron Bess, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Dr. Heath Mills, Rhodium Scientific, Dr. Tracy MacGill, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Anne Cheever, Vela Scientific. 

Together, the partners are aiming for a transformative vision: embedding rigorous lab and manufacturing standards into space processes, beginning with biological innovation and expanding toward advanced inorganic materials.

Established in 2016 to support the commercial spaceflight sector’s swift expansion, ASTM Committee F47 provides a neutral, global platform for consensus standards. Within this collaborative framework, public and private stakeholders develop baseline quality and safety benchmarks, preparing the industry for future regulatory landscapes while driving continuous innovation.

For More Information:

Interested subject matter experts are encouraged to join ASTM F47 and get involved in this groundbreaking effort on space standards development supporting the novel areas of space biotech, pharmaceuticals, and advanced manufacturing payloads.  Currently there are no standards of this type available on the market and now is the time to join these efforts at the ground to help shape the future for good laboratory and good manufacturing protocols through international, voluntary consensus standards development.

For more information or to express interest in joining ASTM F47, contact OSC’s Dr. Dianne Poster at Dianne.Poster@noaa.gov.

Learn more about OSC’s work on space standards.

Photo, left to right: Dr. Heath Mills and Oliva Gamez Holzhaus (Rhodium Scientific), CAPT Tracy MacGill, Ph.D. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and Dr. Dianne Poster (OSC, NIST), Washington D.C, September 14, 2026. Holzhaus will be chairing the newly formed ASTM F47.06 Subcommittee for space biotech, pharmaceuticals, and advanced manufacturing payloads.  Mills, MacGill, and Poster are founding members of the subcommittee.