NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects sensitive fiber cables inside the Cold Atom Lab

iss074e0545220 (May 4, 2026) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 74 flight engineer Jessica Meir inspects sensitive fiber cables that emit light to help cool, trap, and study atoms with high accuracy inside the Cold Atom Lab (CAL) aboard the International Space Station. The CAL, a quantum research facility, chills atoms to near absolute zero, providing insights into atomic wave functions, general relativity, and dark matter.