January 20, 1999
Construction of the International Space Station
Arrival of the First Crew
Click on the image for a larger view.
Artist's rendition of the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth in early 2000, when the first crew--the Expedition 1 Crew--will take up residence. From left to right, the image shows Soyuz (the Russian crew-transfer vehicle from Earth to the ISS), the Service Module, Zarya, and Unity.
Image Credits: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The construction of the International Space Station (ISS) began on December 6, 1998, when the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, orbiting 240 miles above Earth, successfully mated the station's first two modules, Zarya and Unity, to form a tightly sealed, 35-ton, 76-foot-tall structure.
Zarya, which is technically known as the Functional Cargo Block, or FGB (the Russian acronym), will serve as the station's initial source of electrical power and provide communication with Earth, orientation control, and propulsion. Unity, with its six docking ports, will be a connecting module and become the foundation of all future US ISS modules.
In July 1999, the station's third element, the Service Module, will be launched by a Russian Proton rocket and docked remotely with Zarya. The 42,000-pound Service Module, which is similar in layout to the core module of Russia's Mir space station, will serve as the station's first living quarters. It will also provide data processing, communications, flight control, propulsion, and other systems essential for human habitation. Many of these systems will later be supplemented by US station components. However, the Service Module will remain the structural and functional center of the Russian segment of the ISS.
In 1999, four additional flights, all by US space shuttles, will take supplies, a Russian cargo crane, truss structures, solar panels, heat radiators, a Ku-band communications system, and gyroscopes to the ISS.
Then, early in 2000, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying the first crew to the International Space Station: one US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts. The Soyuz spacecraft will remain docked with the station as an emergency return vehicle to Earth.
The Expedition 1 Crew--Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev--will spend about five months aboard the ISS. During their stay, three space shuttle assembly missions will arrive at the station, delivering logistic supplies, a robotic arm, and the US laboratory module Destiny, which is considered to be the centerpiece of the ISS.
In mid-2000, the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-100) is scheduled to carry the Expedition 2 Crew to the ISS and bring Shepherd, Gidzenko, and Krikalev back to Earth. From then on, for at least 15 years, the International Space Station will serve as the orbital home for visiting astronauts and cosmonauts.
More Cool Stuff
- Go to our previous Observation of the Week for a description of the mating of the ISS's first two modules, Zarya and Unity, as well as additional ISS information and links:
- http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1999/ootw_990106/ob990106.html
- For historical information on the ISS, more detailed information on its construction, and a description of its research and science facilities, go to:
- http://station.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/index.html
As part of its Learning Technologies Project (LTP), NASA supports a number of educational Web sites that have excellent material on the space sciences:- With Space Team Online, a project from Ames Research Center, you can meet the people who are making the International Space Station a reality.
- http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/
- Project ALLSTAR has a short article on how people will travel to the ISS in the future.
- http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/x33.htm
- Other LTP sites that are dedicated to space science can be found at:
- http://learn.ivv.nasa.gov/education/topics/space_sci.html