The International Space Station
| 1. | The International Space Station (ISS), the most complex and expensive structure that has ever been launched and built in space, is expected to be a permanent off-planet extension of human civilization. When completed, it will be a multi-room hotel and research facility orbiting the Earth. By that time, resupply and assembly flight by shuttles and rockets will have |
| become routine. | |
| 2. | The Russians and Americans are partners in this international enterprise. The three-person multi-national crews will be alternately composed of two Americans and one Russian followed by a Russian majority. Later a six- or seven-person crew will occupy the station. Some astronauts may stay on the ISS up to 187 days, but there are no plans yet for longer missions. The official life expectancy of the station itself is 10 years, but it should last much longer. |
| 3. | Built by a partnership of 16 nations, the ISS will consist of 36 modules and hundreds of individual elements that come from all over the world. The station involves the most technologically advanced nations – Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and 11 European nations. There will be many interconnected parts from so many countries and it is very important that all these elements made by different suppliers should fit together properly and work exactly as planned. |
| 4. | The ISS could not have been realized without previous extensive experience in operating the Russian Mir space station. Russia learned how to build and maintain complex structures in space. Mir also gave citizens of more than a dozen countries their first opportunity to explore space. Mir has proved to be the perfect training ground for the ISS. for more than a decade at least two humans were always in low Earth orbit. That is why it was planned that Russia would supply and deliver 12 modules for the future station. They are. the basic power module, the control, the life support, the service modules and others. |
| 5. | What is the purpose of the ISS? It is a political program as well as a science program. This program is no longer only about conducting scientific investigations in the absence of gravity, or about establishing the base for a future trip to Mars. The ISS is more than merely the next great adventure of the space age. It is also about promoting international cooperation and creating thousands of peacetime jobs for highly skilled workers and engineers. |
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