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The International Space Station (ISS) is an internationally developed research facility that is being assembled in low Earth orbit. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled for completion by late 2011. The station is expected to remain in operation until at least 2015, and likely 2020. With a greater mass than that of any previous space station, the ISS can be seen from Earth with the naked eye, and, as of 2010, is by far the largest artificial satellite orbiting Earth. The ISS serves as a research laboratory that has a microgravity environment in which crews conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology. The station has a unique environment for the testing of the spacecraft systems that will be required for missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS is operated by Expedition crews, with the station programme maintaining an uninterrupted human presence in space since the launch of Expedition 1 on 31 October 2000, a total of 9 years and 198 days. The programme is thus approaching the current record, set aboard Mir, of 3,644 days (8 days short of 10 years), with the ISS expected to take the record on 23 October 2010. As of 17 March 2010), the crew of Expedition 23 is aboard. The ISS is a synthesis of several space station projects that includes the American Freedom, the Soviet/Russian Mir-2, the European Columbus and the Japanese Kibō. Budget constraints led to the merger of these projects into a single multi-national programme. The ISS project began in 1994 with the Shuttle-Mir programme, and the first module of the station, Zarya, was launched in 1998 by Russia. Assembly continues, as pressurised modules, external trusses and other components are launched by American space shuttles, Russian Proton rockets and Russian Soyuz rockets. As of February 2010, the station consisted of 13 pressurised modules and an extensive integrated truss structure (ITS). Power is provided by 16 solar arrays mounted on the external truss, in addition to four smaller arrays on the Russian modules. The station is maintained at an orbit between 278 km (173 mi) and 460 km (286 mi) altitude, and travels at an average speed of 27,724 km/h (17,227 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day. Operated as a joint project between the five participant space agencies, the station's sections are controlled by mission control centres on the ground operated by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The ownership and use of the space station is established in intergovernmental treaties and agreements that allow the Russian Federation to retain full ownership of its own modules, with the remainder of the station allocated between the other international partners. The cost of the station has been estimated by ESA as €100 billion over 30 years, and, although estimates range from 35 billion dollars to 160 billion dollars, the ISS is believed to be the most expensive object ever constructed. The financing, research capabilities and technical design of the ISS programme have been criticised because of the high cost. The station is serviced by Soyuz spacecraft, Progress spacecraft, space shuttles, the Automated Transfer Vehicle and the H-II Transfer Vehicle, and has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License what advantage is there to doing laboratory experiments on the international space station rather than doing..? Q. what advantage is there to doing laboratory experiments on the international space station rather than doing the same experiments on earth? Asked by yayaya - Fri Mar 27 01:41:51 2009 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments A. Microgravity allows near perfect crystal formation and through Einstein's Equivalence Principle, we are able to conduct complex research that might otherwise be influenced by gravity. Microgravity provides an opportunity for experimentation in a whole new quiescent environment: * no thermally-induced convection * no sedimentation/stratificat ion * no hydrostatic pressure * reduced contact with vessel walls Answered by Atom - Fri Mar 27 02:01:15 2009 Are there any spiders living in the international space station, unintentionally? Q. I am wondering if the people living inside the space station have to clean annoying webs out from hard-to-reach corners. Asked by synx508 - Wed Jan 24 13:43:07 2007 - - 11 Answers - 0 Comments A. They would die for lack of bugs. Spiders do occasionally hitchhike to South Pole station. They build webs, but eventually die of starvation, poor things. Answered by c - Wed Jan 24 14:35:37 2007 How does the International Space Station avoid being obliterated by the space junk?
Q. I have seen a video of orbiting space junk; it looks like a war zone up there. Asked by 19176 - Tue Sep 1 12:56:29 2009 - - 9 Answers - 0 Comments A. just to clarify a few things: NASA is not able to "control" the ISS, they have monitors and can can tweak certain things but i am almost 100% certain that the propulsion officer (which is the person with the engines in ISS control) cannot fire the ISS thrusters to get it to change direction. However, NASA does get the ISS to change position if a piece of space junk is too close. the protective sheild is not strong enough at all to stop oribital debris also known as space junk. For instance, I was talking to a veteran astronaut called John Fabian. He said when they were in orbit, a paint chip smaller than a head of a needle hit the glass on the shuttle and penetrated the glass 1/4 of the way through. Imagine if it would have been a rock???… [cont.] Answered by carolina10 - Tue Sep 1 15:49:34 2009 From Yahoo Answer Search: "International Space Station"
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![Falcon 9 Hardware Arrives at the Cape [Florida Today] - Space News](/ZBPr7-FJRARPNCFr7-JJJs707-s707-n807-CGGUq8-YEHs8-KCFNr7-RTNZVs7-TEBr7-FGBUFOZHUGr7-ARCB-out.jpg) spacenews.com Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:34:31 GMT+00:00 Space News ... Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which aims to demonstrate a cargo delivery service for the international space station . ... Second Falcon 9 rocket begins arriving at the Cape Spaceflight Now SpaceX plans Falcon 9 flight at Cape in September Florida Today  prnewswire.com Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:01:51 GMT+00:00 Residents Hold News Conference PR Newswire (press release) houston, June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The next trio of International Space Station residents will hold a news conference at 1 pm CDT on Tuesday, ... No Time for Sex In Space , Astronaut Says Space.com Absolutely, Positively No Sex In The Space Station YourTango Sex Is Forbidden In The Outer Space According To NASA Commander News Hat ABC Action News - The Spoof (satire) - Asylum  spacefellowship.com Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:43:28 GMT+00:00 Crew Prepares for Spacewalk and Conducts Science Space Fellowship The six Expedition 24 crew members aboard the International Space Station continued their preparations for an upcoming spacewalk and worked on science ... From Google News Search: "International Space Station"  ae.utexas.edu 481px x 640px | 54.20kB [source page] 3 4 International Space Station 2 3 4  apstas.com 426px x 637px | 24.20kB [source page] Cradle Mountain and > 01 Oct 2003 14 38 25K Great Nebula in Orio > 01 Oct 2003 14 38 58K International Space > 01 Oct 2003 14 38 24K LMagellanic jpg 01 Oct 2003 14 39 14K From Yahoo Image Search: "International Space Station"  gearpatrol.com Ethan Dougherty hu, 08 Jul 2010 17:55:16 GM Sure, you may have the greatest camera gear to shoot. And yes, you may have the absolute coolest spots scouted to take those photographs from. But, we're.  universetoday.com Nancy Atkinson ue, 15 Jun 2010 22:34:05 GM The Soyuz TMA-19 vehicle blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today to bring three new crew members to the . International Space Station. . This.  ponceinletpost.com (Editor / Publisher - Joel Hunter) Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:17:00 GM The . International Space Station. will be directly over Ponce Inlet Saturday night (July 17th) beginning exactly at 8:41 P.M. It will rise above the horizon from the Northwest or over towards Dunlawton Bridge and fly up to 86 degrees ... From Google Blog Search: "International Space Station" From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
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