UF leads the way at the Space Life Sciences Lab

Andrew Schuerger and Jamie Foster have watched hundreds of rockets launch from the Kennedy Space Center over the course of their two decades at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory, located just 8 miles from the launch pad.

“I try to go out to see absolutely every rocket launch. It’s thrilling, emotionally and psychologically,” says Schuerger, a professor of plant pathology.

Foster, a professor of microbiology and cell science, says she’ll never forget the first time one of her experiments went to space in 2011.