International space station/ off the earth, for the earth, and beyond.
Introduction.
The Sun … the Moon … the planets… the stars… These natural
phenomena have nurtured, guided and inspired life on Earth throughout the ages.
Yet it wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century, when aerial technology
gave birth to the air plane that humans acquired the technical capability to
literally reach for the stars. Today, airplanes take us to altitudes of
30,000feet, allowing us to fly above the clouds at nearly 600 miles per hour.
Halfway through the 20th century, we invented the technology to go even farther
and the satellite era had begun.
The first artificial
satellites were launched to low Earth orbit, an area that extends to about
1,200 miles above Earth. The satellite era was destined to show the world that
the sky could provide much more than intercontinental transportation and NASA
was created. Today in the 21st century, over a thousand operating satellite's
orbit planet Earth.
They serve us daily with weather prediction, television programming,
navigation, reconnaissance photography, radar imaging, and space-based
internet. But today's most important satellite came at the very end of the
twentieth century. In 1998, assembly began in space on a satellite that would
be second in size and radiance only to the Moon. Completed in the 21st century,
it was destined to enable us to support and improve life on and beyond Earth.
Ultimately this
satellite was to become the springboard for nations around the world to prepare
to take the next giant leap past our Moon and into the Solar System.
This satellite is NASA’s International Space Station. In an
orbit about 250 miles above Earth, the Station travels at a speed of 17,500
miles per hour, circling the globe every 90 minutes. The International Space
Station was built with the cooperation of 15 countries. Under the leadership of
the United States, 40 NASA space shuttle flights carried components to space
for its construction between 1998 and 2011.Construction began with the Russian
launch of Zarya, the foundation of what would become humanity's home in space.
This first segment
was built to provide basic essentials: electrical power, storage, propulsion,
life support, a science lab, navigation tools, and multiple docking ports for the station components
that would soon arrive. For more than a decade, additional modules, solar
arrays, support structures and other vital pieces were flown to space, and the
station was assembled in orbit, piece by piece. Modules like the U.S.
Destiny Laboratory
provided one-of-a-kind research facilities while others including the
Tranquility module provided vital life support systems and additional living
space, eventually giving the station an interior volume similar to a Boeing 747
jet. America’s international partners contributed additional segments to expand
research capabilities to international science and engineering professionals worldwide.
The European Space Agency contributed the Columbus laboratory, which is
connected to a mission control center in Germany. This addition has enabled
Station crew and Earth researchers to conduct thousands of experiments in
weightlessness for life sciences, material science, fluid physics, and other
disciplines.
It also provides another port for external investigations.
These have ranged from exploring how bacteria can survive on a meteorite in
space.… to measuring volcanic activity 400 km below on Earth. Next came the
Japanese Lab, Kibo, with research facilities focusing on experiments in space
medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology and
communications. Kibo has a mission control room at the Tsukuba Space Center in
Japan.
In 2005, Congress
designated the American segment as a National Laboratory, directing NASA to
invite other Federal Agencies and the private sector to use the facility.
Completed in 2011, the Station is the size of an American football field and
can be seen among the Moon, planets and stars as it zooms over your house! To
date, the Station has hosted crew members from 17 countries doing research in
over 50 disciplines. Remarkably, 83 countries worldwide have used the research
facilities. The completion of the International Space Station was one of the
crowning achievements for NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
The workhorse spacecraft bore the majority of what is now
the International Space Station into low-Earth orbit, completing a task that no
other vehicle could achieve. The retirement of NASA’s three active Shuttles
produced a void in America’s space transportation capability. Russia held the
only astronaut transportation to the International Space Station.
So NASA made the bold decision to open the door to
commercial companies: investing to develop low-Earth orbit capabilities in
space by pioneering private companies and fostering a burgeoning commercial
space market. The Station already had several international government
spacecraft delivering cargo: the Russian Progress, the European Automated
Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. But, America became the first country on the
globe to permit commercial entrepreneurial companies to develop the capability
to deliver cargo, and ultimately astronauts, to the International Space
Station.
Currently two American companies, SpaceX and Orbital ATK,
have transported cargo to the Space Station with their Dragon and Cygnus
spacecrafts. And in the years to come, two American companies will soon begin
launching station crews from American soil once more. The International Space
Station’s role in the development of your future as well as that of the United
States space program is enormous.
The Station is humanity’s best proving ground to provide the
biological, scientific, and engineering knowledge needed to send astronauts
safely on a round-trip journey to Mars. To continue preparing for this future
leap into deep space, the Station is being used as a test facility for the
skills and technology that will be needed. NASA is also planning an excursion
to capture a boulder from an asteroid and transport it to Earth’s lunar orbit
in the 2020’s. The asteroid mission will use vehicles that are key components
of NASA’s deep space exploration strategy: the Orion spacecraft and the Space
Launch System heavy lift rocket. But research done aboard the Station isn’t
only benefiting the explorers of tomorrow.
Many things learned in space are already benefiting life
right here on Earth. The human body’s reaction to microgravity is similar in
many ways to its reaction to aging on Earth. Studies in nutrition and exercise
on how to preserve a functional body in space can be applied to counteract the
effects of aging on the human body on Earth as well.
And with the first
yearlong mission on the station already underway, NASA is pushing the
boundaries of the human body’s capabilities further than we have ever gone
before. Research on the fundamental mechanisms of plant growth made possible by
by the microgravity environment could lead to improvements in plant production
on Earth and will be vital if future explorers want to grow food on Mars.
Water purification
systems developed and perfected on the International Space Station have been
used in remote locations on Earth that lack reliable access to clean drinking
water. Technologies developed for a human Mars expedition such as faster
long-distance communication, 3-D printers for equipment parts replacement, and
expandable habitats for spacecraft can be utilized in applications to improve
life on Earth.
Circling the Earth
every 90 minutes, the Station enjoys a unique vantage point the Station enjoys
a unique vantage point and orbits over most of the populated sections of Earth.
Station crews have captured tens of thousands of images of the surface beneath
them, documenting dramatic natural events like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes,
storms, coastal erosion, flooding, drought and tsunamis.
Station cameras have also performed invaluable services to
Earth ranging from agricultural and ecosystem diagnostics to tracking ships
crossing the seas. Commercial research and technology development are major
growth areas made possible by the station’s role as a U.S. National Laboratory.
The number of commercial research and technology projects increased from three
in 2012 to 107 in 2014. Companies of all sizes, including industrial leaders,
are using the microgravity of space to test and develop products.
With an eye on the future, the Station provides thousands of
students with the opportunity to design and launch their very own experiments
into space, developing the next generation of American scientists and
engineers. Today NASA and the International Space Station invite you to join us
for the first opportunity in history to participate in the academic challenges
and commercial opportunities available as NASA travels beyond Earth to
understand and explore the Solar System…. Join us as a participant or as an
interested world citizen as NASA takes many more “small steps for man, but
giant leaps for mankind!”
0 comments: