Nutritional Wellness Blog from BeautifulandWell.com

HOUSTON, Texas (October 24, 2005)- Two Texas companies are teaming up with NASA’s Johnson Space Center on technology development.

The Woodlands-based Houston Advanced Research Center and Houston’s AmeriSciences recently signed separate NASA Space Act Agreements with JSC. HARC is pursuing technologies related to commercial fuel cell systems, while AmeriSciences is focused on developing and testing multivitamin nutritional supplements intended for astronaut use before and during flights.

The two-year NASA-HARC agreement calls for NASA to offer expertise to HARC in the area of fuel cell test stands and system designs. HARC’s analysis and testing efforts could eliminate the need for NASA to develop on-site testing, officials say.

NASA says that working with HARC’s Center for Fuel Cell Research and Applications also may benefit NASA’s future space missions through improved fuel cell performance.

Meanwhile, NASA has partnered with AmeriSciences to develop a multivitamin formulation for potential use by astronauts. Based on NASA’s need to provide increased nutritional support for long-duration spaceflight, scientists at JSC have compiled information on multivitamin formulations. AmeriSciences manufactures a multivitamin that meets many of NASA’s needs, according to the agency.

The agreement with AmeriSciences includes the co-development of the multivitamin, shared responsibilities for product testing, participation in project reports, identification and assessment of related technologies, and demonstrations and other activities.

Created in 1982, HARC is a nonprofit organization that created the Center for Fuel Cell Research and Applications in July 1998.

Founded in 1999, AmeriSciences is a producer and distributor of nutritional, dental and skincare wellness products.

Source: Houston Business Journal

HOUSTON, Texas (July 2005) – NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC) has agreed with AmeriSciences® to participate in a joint venture with NASA/JSC scientists to develop and test nutritional supplements intended for astronauts to use during earth-bound conditioning and in-flight physical maintenance. The Space Act Agreement between NASA/JSC and AmeriSciences sets the stage for the development of two products: a complete multivitamin regimen for general astronaut health and a specialized supplemental vitamin for in-flight nutritional needs.

AmeriSciences and NASA: Working Together to Develop Astronaut-specific Multivitamins

Out of a need for providing increased nutritional support for long duration space flight, NASA/JSC has spent the last couple of years compiling scientific data on the basis of an astronaut-specific multivitamin formulation, with similarities to the AmeriSciences Men’s Master-Multi formulation.

The Space Act Agreement sets forth both short-term and long-term objectives for both parties. These include not only the co-development of the supplement formulations, but shared responsibilities for extensive product testing, participation in project reports, identification and assessment of related technologies, and participation in demonstrations and other activities of mutual interest.

“Combining the expertise of AmeriSciences and NASA to develop products that meet the extreme needs of the astronauts will truly set a new standard in supplementation. We are proud to be a part of this important project.”

-Lou Gallardo, Chairman of AmeriSciences