The Glovebox Program offers Principal Investigators the opportunity to conduct Microgravity Science investigations in the areas of combustion science, fluid physics, fundamental physics, materials science, and biotechnology.

A Glovebox is an enclosed volume that provides physical isolation of an experiment from its environment and enables crewmember manipulation of experiment hardware through gloveports. The Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX) has been the platform for conducting numerous experiments in Spacelab, in the Shuttle Middeck, and in the Priroda module on the Russian Space Station Mir. A larger Glovebox, the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), with enhanced capabilities is currently being developed for use in the U.S. Laboratory on the International Space Station.

In general, Glovebox investigations (or experiments) are smaller-scale, less complex, less automated, more crew intensive, and utilize fewer diagnostics than the typical larger-scale spaceflight experiments. As such, Glovebox investigation hardware can be developed within two to three years at a fraction of the cost of most larger-scale experiments. Since 1992, the Glenn Research Center has developed and successfully flown over twenty-five Microgravity Glovebox investigations in the areas of combustion science and fluid physics.