The International Space Station History
by Krysta CardinaleIn 1998, around the world and in space, men and women from different nations were hard at work on one of the most important inventions of our time; a space laboratory known as the international space station (ISS). Like great inventions that preceded, the station harbored the goal of improving the quality of life on earth. At the same time it had a mission to find new ways of improving life in space, as an attempt to create a bridge to the future of human exploration. The building of an invention that would be capable of conducting such research and at the same time sustain human life was a complex and challenging undertaking.
The international space station is currently a fully operational home and laboratory in space. From here, new types of scientific research are performed that cannot be duplicated in the gravity of earth. The lessons, data, and ISS research obtained so far have paved the way for human exploration beyond low earth orbit. It will also serve as a research platform to investigate new space system designs.
The Construction of the NASA International Space Station
To go to work in space one needs basically a system to generate power, a communication system to talk to the ground, a research or lab facility, and you need the basic support capabilities for the human in space (atmosphere, air conditioning, etc.). The different parts needed for the station were constructed in factories around the world; many elements were shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once here, they underwent the final processing for launch. The international effort required meticulous coordination and planning between the participants.
The building and designing of the ISS hardware had to be done at several locations around the country and around the world. In fact, the hardware wasn’t bought together and tested all at once at the same time. The idea was to bring elements that were built 2,000 miles apart and put them together for the first time in space. For example, in a remote region of Kazakhstan a Russian proton rocket was used as key station element, named Zvezda. This was the first living quarters for the International Space Station, once launched; it was automatically docked with two other station components already in orbit. Zvezda allowed crews to stay and live on board permanently for the first time. The successful launch of Zvezda marked the start of a cascade of space flights, which launched from both Russia and the United States to bring more station parts into orbit around earth.
The station evolved considerably from the beginning of its assembly in 1998, with each mission building upon the success of the previous flight. The NASA international space station saw the addition of components providing power, air, communication, living accommodations and the laboratory for ISS research and scientific work. The actual building of the station in space involved a combination of techniques, including robots built by Canada to move the giant station pieces into place. A few weeks later, a Russian cargo vessel called Progress was automatically docked joining the station components and creating a 143-foot long structure equivalent to a 13-story building. A third logistics mission followed with shuttle mission STS106. Its crew was the first to see the newly expanded station. The crew brought more supplies meant for future station from the Progress vehicle. Opening the doors of the new home for the first time, Commander Terry Wolcott commented.
Terry Wolcott: “Considering the capsule at least I can state that it’s the flight deck of the shuttle, the space station is enormous you got so much room in here, more room than I have ever been accustomed to in space. It’s beautiful; it’s a really nice facility.”
The next mission STS92, brought more hardware to the station beginning the heart of station assembling. The crew carefully positioned and attached a piece of girder like truss called the Z1Truss to the station exterior. The Z1 houses critical electronics and communication equipment along with gyroscopes, which eventually replace thrusters as the primary means to maintain station stability. A new docking port was also carried to the station, important hardware that will add new flexibility for future assembly missions.
The First Crew aboard the ISS
With the construction mission complete, the station was now ready to receive its first live-in crew. Commander Bill Shepherd, pilot Yuri Gidzenko, and flight engineer Sergie Krikalev. The crew of the first expedition to the international space station was ready to put its years of preparation into practice. On October 31, 2000, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan they boarded a SOYUZ spacecraft and launched a new era of world cooperation in space. After a 2-day trip, the SOYUZ approached the orbiting station and docked to the Zvezda module at the docking port, a permanent human presence on the station began on November 2nd. Shepherd followed Gidzenko and Krikalev into the module that would be their home for the next 4.5 months. Before that day was over, they had called home and received congratulations and began the work they had trained for more than three years to do. The men set up a series of sophisticated modules for the long-term tasks of science and technology development, and made the station the place where people can live on orbit.
During the first days, the crew members installed and activated systems that make the station livable, such as the Oxygen and water generators and scrubbers in the toilet. Next they tackled the computer and communication systems that facilitated station command. They were linked and maintained by flight controllers in the Russian mission control center outside Moscow. They then established a backup system for docking Progress supply ships as well as responding to the unexpected, finding a bent pin on a battery connector cable or dealing with a build up of condensation in the air conditioner.
The station crew received its first delivery of food, clothing and hardware on a Russian cargo ship on November 17th. However this did not go smoothly, Gidzenko had to activate the backup system and use hand controllers inside the station when the automatic docking system on that Progress ship failed to lock on to its target. He remotely maneuvered the ship to a safe hook up with the Zarya module. The crew spent the next week unpacking the supplies inside then reloading the craft with garbage and equipment that was no longer needed on board.
The following week, on December 2nd the international space station crew welcomed its first visitors, astronaut Brent Jett docked Endeavour to the station. He and his crew spent the next six days installing and outfitting the station’s new power plant featuring the largest solar rays ever flown in space. These provided an electrical capacity to run its environmental systems in all its modules opening up the unity node to the crew permanently. The hatches between the two ships were opened for the first time on December 8th, and veteran U.S. Navy officers Shepherd and Jett called upon the traditions of their service. From Endeavour, the crew request permission to come aboard. Endeavour, permission granted.
The crew spent a day together to transfer supplies before Endeavour undocked and backed away and gave everyone their first good look at the newly expanded space station. The expedition crew set to work routing power from the new solar rays into all modules of the station, and began some biomedical and engineering experiments. Their routine also included inspection and maintenance of station systems, and a regular regime of exercise designed to maintain the fitness of muscles that get less of a workout than usual in a weightless environment. On December 26th, the Progress ship which had been undocked prior to the shuttle visit was returned, and Gidzenko again had to guide it in to a smooth docking.
The launch of the next shuttle flight to the space station was deferred to allow a thorough inspection of cables in the orbiters solid rocket booster system. It was on the station crew’s 100th day in space, February 8th, when the Progress cargo ship was undocked for the final time in advance of the arrival of Atlantis the next day. That shuttle crew delivered Destiny, the International Space Station’s American built laboratory module.
A Small Trip
During the following week, Shepherd and crew took a break from setting up Destiny to take a little trip. They switched off the lights, boarded their SOYUZ spaceship and undocked from Zvezda. Gidzenko flew the ship to a docking at the forward end of the Zarya module at the port facing down to the earth and opened up Zvezda’s rear docking port for another Progress ship which arrived at the end of the month. Back inside, the Expedition 1 crew members’ switched gears after four months of unpacking and setting up they began to pack their personal gear, preparing to turn the station over to a second Expedition crew. They looked forward to reunions with families and friends, and reflected on their part in getting the space station off on the right foot.
International space station is now an orbiting laboratory flying 220 miles above the earth. Imagine the complexity of the task. The space station was built piece by piece on the ground by 16 different countries around the world, and then assembled in space. Starting in 2001, the space station was and still is a fully functioning research outpost made up of living quarters for the full time crew, a laboratory module for science, and research and a solar electric power plant that provides the electricity the station needs. Over the next few years, there will be the additions of more new research and living modules, and dozens of new support elements. By the time the space station is complete, its solar panels will stretch wider than a football field, and it will have as much living and working space as three large houses.
