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Assembly Complete with Shuttle
This illustration depicts the international Space Station when assembly is completed in June 2002 with elements from the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada. The space shuttle, shown docked with the space station, transports science investigators to relieve crew members who have spent several months on orbit.
Research conducted previously in the human space flight program onboard the first US space station Skylab, onboard Russian space stations and on the space shuttle have contributed greatly to medical research, technology advancement and to our understanding of life on Earth. The international Space Station will serve as a permanent laboratory for long-term research in Earth orbit, drawing on the expertise and resources of 13 nations in the largest cooperative science effort in history. Contributions from the international partners provide more laboratory space, more power, more logistical options and permit a larger crew. International partners in space station include the United States, European Space Agency member nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom), Russia, Japan, and Canada.
International Space Station will be a testbed for the technologies of the future and a research laboratory for new, high-technology industrial materials. Experimental research in the near weightless environment of space produces new insights into industrial process that cannot be replicated on Earth. The increased understanding of fluid physics and combustion gained in microgravity can lead to lighter, stronger super alloys and more efficient energy conservation. Research on advanced space vehicles will improve communications, computer software, utility, and transportation industries.
As an industrial research and development laboratory, international Space Station will test lower-cost heating and cooling systems, long-life power converters, safe chemical storage and transfer processes, and water purification, waste management and recycling systems.
The space station will provide an unequaled environment for research on the growth of protein crystals that help determine the structure of proteins that are characteristic of all living things. Such investigations will greatly enhance development of medicines for many life-threatening diseases. Protein crystals already grown on the space shuttle are superior to crystals grown on Earth for advanced research into cancer, diabetes, emphysema, parasitic infections, and immune system disorders.
On board the space station, crew members will study materials that could not exist and processes that could not take place in Earth's gravity. Such materials include polymers for everything from paint to contact lenses, semiconductors for the next generation of high-speed computers, and high-temperature superconductors for increased efficiency in electrical devices.
Facts & Figures
|
Wingspan End-to-End Width Length Mass (weight) Operating Altitude Inclination Atmosphere
Crew Size |
361 feet (110.03 meters) 290 feet (88.39 meters) 924,000 pounds (419,126.4 kilograms) 220 miles average (407.44 kilometers) Inclination 51.6 degrees to the Equator Atmosphere 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) (101.36 kilonewtons per square meter) atmospheric pressure is same as Earth Crew Size 6 people at assembly complete |
Significant Dates
|
Date |
Schedule |
Payload |
|
11/97 |
First Element Launch |
FGB (on Proton rocket) |
|
5/98 |
Capability for 3-person crew |
Soyuz |
|
11/98 |
US Laboratory Launched |
US Lab Module |
|
12/98 |
SSRMS (Canada) |
Canadian Remote Manipulator System |
|
2/99 |
First Utilization Flight |
International Standard Payload Rack |
|
11/99 |
First Russian Research Module Launch |
Russian RM-1 |
|
3/2000 |
Japanese Lab Launch |
JEM Pressurized Module |
|
8/2001 |
Centrifuge Launch |
Centrifuge Accommodation Module |
|
9/2001 |
European Lab Launch |
Columbus Orbital Facility (on Ariane rocket) |
|
2/2002 |
Habitation Module Launch |
US Hab Module |
|
6/2002 |
Assembly Complete |
Full 6-person crew capability; Crew Transfer Vehicle |
Transportation Flights (1997-2002)
Space Shuttle Flights
- Assembly = 21
- Utilization and Outfitting = 6
- Total Shuttle Flights = 27
Russian Flights
- Assembly = 15
- Crew Transport = 10
- Reboost (propulsion) = 19
- Total Russian Flights = 44
ESA Assembly Flights (on Ariane 5 rocket) =1
Launcher for Crew Transport Vehicle = 1
Total Assembly/Transportation Flights = 73