Microorganisms in space station may threaten the health of astronauts and reliability of equipment and affect longterm on-orbit operation of the space station. AIT(assembly, integration, testing) center, transportation and launch environment of spacecraft are the main microbial pollution sources of China's space station. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive microbial monitoring of the plant and outdoor environment of Wenchang launch site. Samplings were collected by Petri plate gravitational settling from spacecraft assembly and test clean-room and other five surrounding areas. The strains were identified using traditional culture-based and Sanger dideoxy sequencing technology. Analysis of isolated strains showed that Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. were the dominant airborne bacterial genus whereas Curvularia sp., Aspergillus sp., and Penicillium sp. dominated the fungal population. Some of the dominant microbes have potential microbial corrosion hazards to the equipment and structures of the space station. The results can provide bacteria and fungi references for space microbial corrosion research in China and facilitate targeted biological safety prevention.

spacecraft assembly environment  /  AIT center  /  space station  /  airborne microbes  /  16S rRNA  /  ITS rDNA