International Space Station Marks Five Years In Orbit

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington November 19, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1234)

Kylie Moritz
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

RELEASE: 03-374

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MARKS FIVE YEARS IN ORBIT

The International Space Station reaches the historic five
years in space milestone on November 20, 2003. The unique
orbiting laboratory complex has grown from a lone, uninhabited
module into a permanently staffed, house-sized research
facility.

The Station remains the largest and most complex international
space research project in history. The Station will eventually
triple scientific capacity with components awaiting the Space
Shuttle's return to flight.

The first Space Station element, the Russian Zarya control
module, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Nov. 20, 1998.
Two weeks later, the Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered the
second element, the U.S. connecting module called Unity. The
challenges, triumphs and tragedy shared by the international
partnership since then have solidified cooperation on the
Station among the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and
Europe.

"Together with our international partners we have learned how
to build, operate and maintain a very complex spacecraft,
through the good times and the bad," said Bill Gerstenmaier,
NASA Space Station Program Manager. "With this experience to
guide us, we look forward to the future, with a vast expansion
of the Station on the horizon."

At five years old, the Station is still growing. More than 80
tons of equipment and hardware are in the Space Station
Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla.
being prepared for launch.

The Space Station has orbited the Earth more than 29,000
times. It is visible in the night sky as it flies more than
210 miles overhead. The living and working area inside the
Station has a volume of about 15,000 cubic feet, larger than a
three-bedroom house.

The orbiting complex has been inhabited since Nov. 2, 2000.
Eight successive crews, 22 people, have staffed the Station.
Residents have conducted research in bioastronautics, physical
sciences, fundamental space biology, space product development
and space flight disciplines. In the U.S. Destiny Lab alone,
astronauts have worked on over 70 different science
experiments.

Hundreds of people on Earth support Station operations from
the Station Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston. Round-the-clock science operations are
handled by the Payload Operations Center team at NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Hundreds of
other scientists and engineers perform important jobs, such as
training Station crews and building new hardware that will
become part of the orbiting laboratory.

Additional research facilities are being readied for launch on
future Shuttle missions. They will enhance Destiny's
capabilities in the areas of fundamental space biology; glass
and porous ceramics materials processing research; human
physiology research; combustion research; research on the
behavior of fluids; Earth observations; and experiment
refrigerator/freezer conditioned sample storage.

Also awaiting launch at KSC are solar arrays and support
structures that will triple the sunlight-gathering, solar cell
area, thereby increasing the power dedicated to research by 84
percent.

The Node 2 module that will serve as a connector between the
U.S., European and Japanese research labs is at KSC undergoing
pre-launch processing. The Kibo Japanese Experiment Module,
including a pressurized lab already at KSC, will also be added
to the Station. The European Columbus Laboratory, under
construction in Bremen, Germany, will expand the Station's
volume to almost that of a five-bedroom house.

For information about NASA, human spaceflight, astronauts, and
the International Space Station on the Internet, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov


-end-

The Station remains the largest and most complex international
space research project in history.

Ahh cooperation agreement, little real science occurs, and costs are
astronomical.

Ron Baalke wrote:

The International Space Station reaches the historic five
years in space milestone on November 20, 2003. The unique
orbiting laboratory complex has grown from a lone, uninhabited
module into a permanently staffed, house-sized research
facility.

.....and on and on.
Gee, this almost makes it sound like a _good_ thing, instead of a
completely cocked-up political, scientific, and economic horror child.
Can those NASA boys write, or what?

Pat

Pat Flannery writes:
....and on and on.
Gee, this almost makes it sound like a _good_ thing, instead of a
completely cocked-up political, scientific, and economic horror child.
Can those NASA boys write, or what?

Spin, spin, spin... I think the ISS program is better at spin than
science. :-P

Jeff
--
Remove "no" and "spam" from email address to reply.
If it says "This is not spam!", it's surely a lie.

Spin, spin, spin... I think the ISS program is better at spin than
science. :-P

Jeff
--

Boy you can say that again.

All future efforts should be required to preoduce a yearly summary of
scientific achievements and their revelance to mankind.

Iss would certinally fail at that.

(Hallerb) wrote:
[...]
All future efforts should be required to preoduce a yearly summary of
scientific achievements and their revelance to mankind.

Iss would certinally fail at that.

FWIW, Teflon would have failed it also. It wasn't deemed useful until
some time later (did I see 30 years? Time to go back to snopes, I
guess).

/dps

(Hallerb) wrote:
All future efforts should be required to preoduce a yearly summary of
scientific achievements and their revelance to mankind.

Iss would certinally fail at that.

Any half complete scientific facility would fail at that.

D.
---
The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found
at the following URLs:

Text-Only Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Enhanced HTML Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

Corrections, comments, and additions should be
e-mailed to , as well as posted to
sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for
discussion.

Spin, spin, spin... I think the ISS program is better at spin than
science. :-P

Wait a minute, I think we just found a substitute for the cancelled
Centrifuge Accomodation Module.

(Hallerb) wrote in message ...

The Station remains the largest and most complex international
space research project in history.

Ahh cooperation agreement, little real science occurs, and costs are
astronomical.

Exactly my point! Its done 5 years in orbit, so let's now fire it to
the Moon where it can provide important science returns for an
additional 50 years...
as a Moon base?!


Abdul Ahad
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent
"The AA Institute of Space Science & Technology is a strong proponent
of Moon bases and manned Mars missions." (No fan of space stations
stuck in LEO)

(Derek Lyons) writes:

(Hallerb) wrote:
All future efforts should be required to preoduce a yearly summary of
scientific achievements and their revelance to mankind.

Iss would certinally fail at that.

Any half complete scientific facility would fail at that.

Heck, most complete scientific facilities would have a hard time
justifying things on an annual basis. I'm coming up on nearly a year of
work at a university now; what I've accomplished are two classes taught,
a half-dozen papers in various stages of completion, and a couple chapters
for a textbook. Nice, but if you picked a person at random off the street
and asked me to say how any of this made his life measurably better, I'd
have to point towards a nearby tall building, shout, ``Look, a big
distracting thing!'' and run away. But I'd still say I'm worth the cost.

Joseph Nebus
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