The first commercial experiment on ISS. Paragon designed, fabricated, tested, and prepared for flight in only 2 months and 12 days from contract through launch on a Russian Progress vehicle. This work was the pathfinder for all future commercial projects involving the RSA/Energia, and SPACEHAB.

The first animals in space to perform complete life-cycles, from birth, to adulthood, to procreation and birth, did so during a four-month experiment on the Mir Space Station. Experiments during four space flights (shuttle, ISS, Mir) using our Autonomous Biological System (ABS) bore several other firsts: the first aquatic angiosperms to be grown in space; the first completely bioregenerative life support system in space; and, among the first gravitational ecology experiments.

The first multigenerational animal experiment in space, is also the longest microgravity animal experiment – over 18 months on ISS – using Paragon’s ABS.

The first full motion, long duration video (4 months, 60 total minutes) of plant and animal growth on orbit was accomplished with a Paragon-designed digital camera system using a Paragon-specified Sony DCR-7 digital camera with custom EPROM.

The first automated heliostat designed to illuminate targets below the level of the reflector, and the first such heliostat designed to illuminate a range of targets. Also, the first heliostat reflector system approved for overhead use in a public building.