[kreelman]

I've heard it said that growing crystals in gravity is tricky... If we could do this in space, gravity free, we could get better crystals.

Is that correct? Pardon for asking a bit of a question to your comment. I don't know too much about growing crystals for things like jet engine blades.

[chicken-stew]

I, too, heard this but in a different context: pharma growing pure crystals for analysis by x-ray diffraction. There was a discussion a while back whether these lab-grown crystals were truly contributing to ISS’s reason to exist or an excuse to keep the lab going.