The creation and assembly of the International Space Station clearly demonstrates U.S. leadership of the global community, lighting the pathway for peaceful cooperation between nations in the 21st century. The largest international scientific and technological endeavor ever undertaken is taking shape in factories and laboratories in the United States and around the world. With the Space Station, a permanent laboratory will be established in a realm where gravity, temperature, and pressure can be manipulated to
achieve a variety of scientific and engineering pursuits that are impossible in ground-based laboratories. The Space Station will be a test bed for the technologies of the future and a laboratory for research on new, advanced industrial materials, communications technology, medical research, and much more. On-orbit assembly has begun. A new star has appeared in the night sky, and it grows brighter as each international contribution is delivered to space.
Program
The completed International Space Station will be a permanent orbiting laboratory in space capable of performing long-duration research in the unique environment of Earth's orbit. The Space Station will:
• expand U.S. leadership of the global community
• forge new partnerships with other nations for the benefit of humankind
• serve as a driving force for emerging technologies
• inspire our children and encourage education
• foster the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs
• satisfy humanity's need to explore
Aboard this international orbiting laboratory, astronauts from many nations will:
• advance medical research, benefiting all humankind
• develop new materials and processes to benefit industries on Earth
• accelerate breakthroughs in technology and engineering that will have immediate, practical applications for life on Earth and will create jobs and economic opportunities worldwide.
Assembly of the Space Station began in December 1998 and will be completed in 2004. In orbit 220 miles above Earth, the Space Station will circle the globe at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to the equator. This orbit has two advantages:
• It can be reached by the launch vehicles of all the international partners, providing a robust capability for the delivery of crews and supplies to the Station.
• It provides excellent Earth observation with coverage of 85 percent of the globe and over flight of 95 percent of the planet's population.
When completed, the Space Station will be 356 feet across and 290 feet long. It will weigh about 950,000 pounds. Up to seven people will live on the Space Station.
Phase One: The Shuttle-Mir Program
In preparation for the assembly and operation of the International Space Station, NASA and the Russian Space Agency entered into a cooperative program using the U.S. Space Shuttle and the Russian space station Mir to try out new technologies and work on procedures to decrease risk in the future. The program allowed U.S. and Russian engineers and planners to learn to overcome cultural differences and work together in the operation of a long-term spacecraft. It also permitted scientists to conduct experiments on Mir.
When the Shuttle-Mir program ended in May 1998, the United States had continuous presence on Mir for almost 27 months. American astronauts who served a tour on Mir were Norm Thagard, Shannon Lucid, John Blaha, Jerry Linenger, Michael Foale, David Wolf, and Andy Thomas.
Phase One Results
The Shuttle-Mir program provided the United States with the opportunity to conduct experiments in microgravity for periods of time far exceeding the two-week maximum of Space Shuttle flights. The flight of seven American astronauts and more than 140 experiments on Mir were an important step in preparing for Space Station assembly and research. The Shuttle-Mir science results include:
• Microgravity Science—Used cutting-edge technology to increase dramatically the number of protein crystals grown. Allowed for the significant expansion of in-flight tissue culture experiments from weeks to months. Benefited medical research on Earth with knowledge gained.
• Life Sciences—Collected significant data regarding human response to long-duration exposure to the microgravity environment (“weightlessness”). Discovered that bone loss does not lessen over time (1.2 percent of bone mass in the lower hip and spine is lost per month in microgravity).
• Plant Growth—Discovered that seeds from plants grown in space could be planted and seeds harvested, demonstrating that self-sufficiency for extended life sustainance in space is possible.
Day-to-day experience in space operations on Mir made clear to engineers that the design of certain areas of the International Space Station needs improvement. For example:
• Analysis of the events following the Mir fire resulted in a modification to the station's software so that all intermodule ventilation can be shut off with a single command.
• Mir rendezvous and docking demonstrated that the planned use of the Shuttle “star trackers” requires the addition of Space Station track lighting.
Phases Two and Three: The Development, Assembly, and Operations of the International Space Station
Creation of the International Space Station has begun. Success will depend on qualification and development testing on a major scale, the completion of flight components, the development and release of key software, and the achievement of bringing all these activities together on orbit.
The United States has the responsibility for developing and ultimately operating major elements and systems aboard the Space Station.
• The elements include:
• three nodes
• a laboratory module
• truss segments
• four solar arrays
• a habitation module
• a cupola
• an unpressurized logistics carrier
• a centrifuge module
•The systems include:
• thermal control
• life support
• guidance
• navigation and control
• data handling
• power systems
• communications and tracking
• ground operations facilities
• launch-site processing facilities
• As of December 1998, about 500,000 pounds of flight-quality hardware was built.
• The first element, the control module Zarya, is a 20-ton, 43-foot-long module that contains propulsion, command, and control systems. It was built for NASA by the Russian corporation Krunichev, and it was launched on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on November 20, 1998.
• The first U.S. pressurized module of the Space Station, Unity, was built at Marshall Space Flight Center and outfitted at Kennedy Space Center. It was launched from Kennedy on December 4, 1998, and was successfully joined to Zarya in space.
Countries participating in the International Space Station program are Canada, Japan, Brazil, Russia, and 11 nations of the European Space Agency.
• Canada will provide a 55-foot-long robotic arm to be used for assembly and maintenance tasks on the Space Station.
• Japan will provide a laboratory with an attached facility exposed to the vacuum of space and logistics transport vehicles.
• Brazil will provide a pallet to house external payloads, unpressurized logistics carriers, and an Earth observation facility.
• Russia will provide research modules, a service module with its own life support and habitation systems, a science power platform that supplies about 20 kilowatts of electrical power, logistics transport vehicles, and Soyuz spacecraft for crew return and transfer.
• The European Space Agency will provide a pressurized laboratory and logistics transport vehicles to be launched on the Ariane V launch vehicle.
Future Activities: Science Operations
The Space Station will provide scientists the electric power and laboratory space on orbit to conduct the research needed for safe, long-term space exploration by human beings. The knowledge gained will also benefit research on Earth in many fields. Areas of research currently planned for the International Space Station include biotechnology, materials science, combustion science, gravitational biology, advanced human life support, Earth observation, space science, physics, and engineering research and technology.
The almost complete absence of gravity on the Space Station will allow new insights into human health and disease prevention and treatment, including heart, lung, and kidney function, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis (bone loss), hormonal disorders, and brain function. In addition, scientists will use the unique environment of space to uncover other, more subtle forces and interactions in fluids and materials. Materials to be investigated include polymers (used on Earth for everything from paint to contact lenses), semiconductors for high-speed supercomputers and electronics, and high-temperature superconductors that will make electrical devices operate more efficiently.
The Space Station will inspire a new generation of Americans to explore and achieve, and it will pioneer new methods of education to teach and motivate the next generation of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and explorers.
Summary
The International Space Station is under way. The newest star in the night sky will continue to grow bright, demonstrating to the world that its nations can work together on peaceful initiatives.
NASA Data Sheet FS-1998-04-004-HQ
Responsible NASA Official: Pat Riep-Dice
Revised: February 8, 1999
