The ISS is an
International program in creating an International Space Station. Eventually the
ISS may be privatized.
What is the International Space Station?
It is the largest space project to date. It is a joint a collaboration of 16
countries: United States (NASA), Russia (Russian Federal Space Agency - formerly
Rosaviakosmos), Brazil, Canada (Canadian Space Agency), Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency. ESA members involved
are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
International Space Station Modules
The following modules are present in orbit:
1. Zarya Module (FGB) - Zarya as the first ISS module to be placed in
orbit. It was launched November 20, 1998.
2. Unity Module (Node Module 1) - carried by STS-88 Endeavour on December
4, 1998.
3. Zvezda (Service Module) - Zvezda Module was
launched on 12th July, 2000 on a Proton rocket.
4. Destiny Laboratory Module - carried by STS-88 Atlantis on February 1,
2001.
5. Joint Airlock (Quest airlock) - carried on STS-104 Atlantis on July
12, 2001.
6. Docking Compartment (Pirs airlock) - delivered on August 14, 2001 by a
Russian Progress-M spacecraft.
ISS Transport
Crews are delivered to the ISS by the Space
Shuttle and Russia's Soyuz
Spacecraft. At present, the Soyuz functions as the only crewed space
vehicle (Shuttle will re-commence flying in 2005) and is the ISS Emergency Crew
Vehicle. NASA planned to use X-38
as a Crew Return Vehicle, however it was cancelled in 2001 due
to budgetary reasons. In the future a derivative of the Crew
Exploration Vehicle (CEV) may be used. Cargo is delivered by the US Shuttle and Russia's Progress
Spacecraft and in the future by Europe's ATV
and Japan's HTV.
Manned
Missions: The current mission is
Expedition 23.
*
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-131 on 5 April 2010.
Special Guests at the ISS
Dennis Tito visited the International Space Station as the first space
tourist in 2001. French Astronaut Claudie Haignere was the first European
woman to serve aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The French-Russian
flight blasted off to the ISS on October 21, 2001.
At last, the ISS is coming into fruition! The ISS will be 5 times larger than
Mir when
complete.
