Briefly about the article: The ISS is the most expensive and ambitious project of mankind on the way to space exploration. However, the construction of the station is in full swing, and it is not yet known what will happen to it in a couple of years. We talk about the creation of the ISS and plans for its completion.

space house

international space station

You remain in charge. But don't touch anything.

A joke by Russian cosmonauts about the American Shannon Lucid, which they repeated every time they went out into outer space from the Mir station (1996).

Back in 1952, the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun said that humanity would need space stations very soon: as soon as it went into space, it would be unstoppable. And for the systematic development of the Universe, orbital houses are needed. On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the Salyut 1 space station, the first in the history of mankind. It was only 15 meters long, and the volume of habitable space was 90 square meters. By today's standards, the pioneers flew into space on unreliable scrap metal stuffed with radio tubes, but then it seemed that there were no more barriers to man in space. Now, 30 years later, only one habitable object hangs above the planet - "International Space Station".

It is the largest, most advanced, but at the same time the most expensive station among all that have ever been launched. Increasingly, questions are being asked - do people need it? Like, what do we need in space, if there are so many problems left on Earth? Perhaps it is worth understanding - what is this ambitious project?

The roar of the spaceport

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint project of 6 space agencies: the Federal Space Agency (Russia), the National Agency for Aeronautics and Research outer space(USA), Japan Aerospace Research Authority (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA/ASC), Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and European Space Agency (ESA).

However, not all members of the latter took part in the ISS project - Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Austria and Finland refused this, while Greece and Luxembourg joined later. In fact, the ISS is based on a synthesis of failed projects - the Russian Mir-2 station and the American Svoboda.

Work on the creation of the ISS began in 1993. The Mir station was launched on February 19, 1986 and had a warranty period of 5 years. In fact, she spent 15 years in orbit - due to the fact that the country simply did not have the money to launch the Mir-2 project. The Americans had similar problems - the Cold War ended, and their Svoboda station, which had already spent about 20 billion dollars on one design, was out of work.

Russia had a 25-year practice of working with orbital stations, unique methods of long-term (over a year) human stay in space. In addition, the USSR and the USA had a good experience of working together on board the Mir station. In conditions when no country could independently pull an expensive orbital station, the ISS became the only alternative.

On March 15, 1993, representatives of the Russian Space Agency and the scientific and production association Energia approached NASA with a proposal to create the ISS. On September 2, a corresponding government agreement was signed, and by November 1, a detailed work plan was prepared. Financial issues of interaction (supply of equipment) were resolved in the summer of 1994, and 16 countries joined the project.

What's in your name? The name "ISS" was born in controversy. The first crew of the station, at the suggestion of the Americans, gave it the name "Station Alpha" and used it for some time in communication sessions. Russia did not agree with this option, since “Alpha” figuratively meant “first”, although the Soviet Union had already launched 8 space stations (7 “Salyuts” and “Mir”), and the Americans were experimenting with their “Skylab”. From our side, the name “Atlantis” was proposed, but the Americans rejected it for two reasons - firstly, it was too similar to the name of their shuttle “Atlantis”, and secondly, it was associated with the mythical Atlantis, which, as you know, drowned . It was decided to stop at the phrase "International Space Station" - not too sonorous, but a compromise.

Go!

The deployment of the ISS was launched by Russia on November 20, 1998. The Proton rocket launched the Zarya functional cargo block into orbit, which, along with the American NODE-1 docking module, delivered into space on December 5 of the same year by the Endevere shuttle, formed the backbone of the ISS.

"Dawn"- the heir to the Soviet TKS (supply transport ship), designed to serve Almaz combat stations. At the first stage of the ISS assembly, it became a source of electricity, an equipment warehouse, a means of navigation and orbit correction. All other modules of the ISS now have a more specific specialization, while Zarya is practically universal and in the future will serve as a storage facility (food, fuel, instruments).

Officially, Zarya is owned by the United States - they paid for its creation - however, in fact, the module was assembled from 1994 to 1998 at the Khrunichev State Space Center. It was included in the ISS instead of the Bus-1 module, designed by the American corporation Lockheed, since it cost $450 million compared to $220 million for Zarya.

Zarya has three docking airlocks - one at each end and one on the side. Its solar panels are 10.67 meters long and 3.35 meters wide. In addition, the module has six nickel-cadmium batteries capable of delivering about 3 kilowatts of power (at first, there were problems with charging them).

Along the outer perimeter of the module there are 16 fuel tanks with a total volume of 6 cubic meters (5700 kilograms of fuel), 24 large rotary jet engines, 12 small ones, as well as 2 main engines for serious orbital maneuvers. Zarya is capable of autonomous (unmanned) flight for 6 months, but due to delays with the Russian service module Zvezda, it had to fly empty for 2 years.

Unity module(created by the Boeing Corporation) went into space after the Zarya in December 1998. Being equipped with six docking locks, it became the central connecting node for the subsequent modules of the station. Unity is vital to the ISS. The working resources of all station modules - oxygen, water and electricity - pass through it. Unity also has a basic radio communication system that allows you to use communication capabilities"Dawn" for communication with the Earth.

Service module “Zvezda”- the main Russian segment of the ISS - was launched on July 12, 2000 and docked with Zarya 2 weeks later. Its frame was built back in the 1980s for the Mir-2 project (the design of the Zvezda is very reminiscent of the first Salyut stations, and its design features are of the Mir station).

Simply put, this module is housing for astronauts. It is equipped with life support systems, communications, control, data processing, as well as a propulsion system. The total mass of the module is 19050 kilograms, the length is 13.1 meters, the span of the solar panels is 29.72 meters.

Zvezda has two beds, an exercise bike, a treadmill, a toilet (and other hygienic facilities), and a refrigerator. External view is provided by 14 windows. The Russian electrolytic system "Electron" decomposes waste water. Hydrogen is taken overboard, and oxygen enters the life support system. Paired with Electron, the Air system works, absorbing carbon dioxide.

Theoretically, waste water can be cleaned and reused, but this is rarely practiced on the ISS - fresh water is delivered on board by cargo Progress. It must be said that the Electron system malfunctioned several times and the cosmonauts had to use chemical generators - the same “oxygen candles” that once caused a fire at the Mir station.

In February 2001, a laboratory module was attached to the ISS (to one of the Unity gateways). "Destiny"(“Destiny”) - an aluminum cylinder weighing 14.5 tons, 8.5 meters long and 4.3 meters in diameter. It is equipped with five mounting racks with life support systems (each weighs 540 kilograms and can produce electricity, cool water and control the composition of the air), as well as six racks of scientific equipment delivered a little later. The remaining 12 empty slots will be occupied over time.

In May 2001, the Quest Joint Airlock, the main airlock compartment of the ISS, was attached to Unity. This six-ton ​​cylinder, measuring 5.5 by 4 meters, is equipped with four high-pressure cylinders (2 - oxygen, 2 - nitrogen) to compensate for the loss of air released to the outside, and is relatively inexpensive - only 164 million dollars.

Its working space of 34 cubic meters is used for spacewalks, and the dimensions of the airlock allow the use of spacesuits of any type. The fact is that the design of our "Orlans" involves their use only in Russian transfer compartments, a similar situation with American EMUs.

In this module, astronauts going into space can also rest and breathe pure oxygen to get rid of decompression sickness (with a sharp change in pressure, nitrogen, the amount of which in the tissues of our bodies reaches 1 liter, goes into a gaseous state).

The last of the assembled ISS modules is the Russian Pirs docking compartment (SO-1). The creation of SO-2 was discontinued due to funding problems, so the ISS now has only one module, to which the Soyuz-TMA and Progress spacecraft can be easily docked - and three of them at once. In addition, cosmonauts dressed in our spacesuits can go outside from it.

And, finally, one more module of the ISS cannot be mentioned - the baggage multi-purpose support module. Strictly speaking, there are three of them - "Leonardo", "Raffaello" and "Donatello" (artists of the Renaissance, as well as three of the four ninja turtles). Each module is an almost equilateral cylinder (4.4 by 4.57 meters) transported on shuttles.

It can store up to 9 tons of cargo (tare weight - 4082 kilograms, with a maximum load - 13154 kilograms) - supplies delivered to the ISS, and waste taken away from it. All of the module's baggage is in normal air, so astronauts can get to it without using space suits. The baggage modules were manufactured in Italy by order of NASA and belong to the American segments of the ISS. They are used in sequence.

Useful little things

In addition to the main modules, the ISS has a large number of additional equipment. It is inferior in size to the modules, but without it, the operation of the station is impossible.

The working “arms”, or rather, the “hand” of the station, is the “Canadarm2” manipulator, mounted on the ISS in April 2001. This high-tech machine worth 600 million dollars is capable of moving objects weighing up to 116 tons - for example, helping to assemble modules, docking and unloading shuttles (their own “hands” are very similar to “Canadarm2”, only smaller and weaker).

Own length of the manipulator - 17.6 meters, diameter - 35 centimeters. It is controlled by astronauts from the laboratory module. The most interesting thing is that "Canadarm2" is not fixed in one place and is able to move around the surface of the station, providing access to most of its parts.

Unfortunately, due to differences in connection ports located on the surface of the station, “Canadarm2” cannot move around our modules. In the near future (presumably 2007), it is planned to install ERA (European Robotic Arm) on the Russian segment of the ISS - a shorter and weaker, but more accurate manipulator (positioning accuracy - 3 millimeters), capable of operating in semi-automatic mode without constant control of astronauts.

In accordance with the safety requirements of the ISS project, a rescue ship is constantly on duty at the station, capable of delivering the crew to Earth if necessary. Now this function is performed by the good old Soyuz (TMA model) - it is able to take on board 3 people and provide them with life support for 3.2 days. "Unions" have a short warranty period in orbit, so they are changed every 6 months.

The workhorses of the ISS are currently the Russian Progresses, the brothers of the Soyuz, operating in unmanned mode. During the day, an astronaut consumes about 30 kilograms of cargo (food, water, hygiene products, etc.). Consequently, for a regular six-month duty at the station, one person needs 5.4 tons of supplies. It is impossible to carry so much on the Soyuz, so the station is mainly supplied by shuttles (up to 28 tons of cargo).

After the termination of their flights, from February 1, 2003 to July 26, 2005, the entire load on the station's clothing support lay on Progress (2.5 tons of load). After unloading the ship, it was filled with waste, undocked automatically and burned up in the atmosphere somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Crew: 2 people (as of July 2005), maximum - 3

Orbit height: From 347.9 km to 354.1 km

Orbital inclination: 51.64 degrees

Daily revolutions around the Earth: 15.73

Distance covered: About 1.5 billion kilometers

Average speed: 7.69 km/s

Current weight: 183.3 tons

Fuel weight: 3.9 tons

Living space: 425 square meters

Average temperature on board: 26.9 degrees Celsius

Estimated Completion: 2010

Planned life: 15 years

The complete assembly of the ISS will require 39 shuttle flights and 30 Progress flights. In finished form, the station will look like this: airspace volume - 1200 cubic meters, weight - 419 tons, power-to-weight ratio - 110 kilowatts, total length of the structure - 108.4 meters (74 meters in modules), crew - 6 people.

At the crossroads

Until 2003, the construction of the ISS went on as usual. Some modules were canceled, others were delayed, sometimes there were problems with money, faulty equipment - in general, things were going tight, but nevertheless, over the 5 years of its existence, the station became habitable and scientific experiments were periodically conducted on it.

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was lost while entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. The American manned flight program was suspended for 2.5 years. Given that the station modules waiting for their turn could only be launched into orbit by shuttles, the very existence of the ISS was in jeopardy.

Fortunately, the United States and Russia were able to agree on a redistribution of costs. We took over the provision of the ISS with cargo, and the station itself was transferred to the standby mode - two cosmonauts were constantly on board to monitor the serviceability of the equipment.

Shuttle launches

After the successful flight of the Discovery shuttle in July-August 2005, there was hope that the construction of the station would continue. First in line for launch is Unity's connector module twin, Node 2. The preliminary date of its launch is December 2006.

The European Science Module Columbus will be the second, scheduled for launch in March 2007. This lab is ready and waiting in the wings to be attached to Node 2. It boasts good anti-meteorite protection, a unique device for the study of fluid physics, as well as the European Physiological Module (a comprehensive medical examination right on board the station).

Following the "Columbus" will go Japanese laboratory "Kibo" ("Hope") - its launch is scheduled for September 2007. It is interesting because it has its own mechanical manipulator, as well as a closed "terrace" where you can conduct experiments in open space without actually leaving the ship.

The third connecting module - “Node 3” is to go to the ISS in May 2008. In July 2009 it is planned to launch a unique rotating centrifuge module CAM (Centrifuge Accommodations Module), on board of which artificial gravity will be created in the range from 0.01 to 2 g. It is designed mainly for scientific research - the permanent residence of astronauts in the conditions of gravity, which is so often described by science fiction writers, is not provided.

In March 2009, the ISS will fly "Cupola" ("Dome") - an Italian development, which, as its name implies, is an armored observation dome for visual control over the station's manipulators. For safety, the portholes will be equipped with external shutters to protect against meteorites.

The last module delivered to the ISS by American shuttles will be the Science and Force Platform, a massive block of solar panels on an openwork metal truss. It will provide the station with the energy necessary for the normal functioning of the new modules. It will also feature ERA's mechanical arm.

Launches on Protons

Russian Proton rockets are supposed to carry three large modules to the ISS. So far, only a very approximate flight schedule is known. Thus, in 2007 it is planned to add to the station our spare functional cargo block (FGB-2 - the twin of Zarya), which will be turned into a multifunctional laboratory.

In the same year, the European ERA manipulator arm is to be deployed by Proton. And, finally, in 2009 it will be necessary to put into operation a Russian research module, functionally similar to the American "Destiny".

It is interesting

Space stations are frequent guests in science fiction. The two most famous are “Babylon 5” from the television series of the same name and “Deep Space 9” from the Star Trek series. The textbook look of the space station in SF was created by director Stanley Kubrick. His film 2001: A Space Odyssey (screenplay and book by Arthur C. Clarke) showed a large ring station rotating on its axis, thus creating artificial gravity. The longest human stay on the space station is 437.7 days. The record was set by Valery Polyakov at the Mir station in 1994-1995. The Soviet Salyut stations were originally supposed to bear the name Zarya, but it was left for the next similar project, which, in the end, became the ISS functional cargo block. In one of the expeditions to the ISS, a tradition arose to hang three banknotes on the wall of the residential module - 50 rubles, a dollar and a euro. For luck. The first space marriage in the history of mankind was concluded on the ISS - on August 10, 2003, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, while on board the station (she flew over New Zealand), married Ekaterina Dmitrieva (the bride was on Earth, in the USA).

* * *

The ISS is the largest, most expensive and long-term space project in the history of mankind. While the station is not yet completed, its cost can be estimated only approximately - over 100 billion dollars. Criticism of the ISS most often boils down to the fact that this money can be used to carry out hundreds of unmanned scientific expeditions to the planets of the solar system.

There is some truth in such accusations. However, this is a very limited approach. First, it does not take into account the potential profit from the development of new technologies with the creation of each new module of the ISS - and after all, its instruments are really at the forefront of science. Their modifications can be used in Everyday life and can generate huge income.

We must not forget that thanks to the ISS program, humanity gets the opportunity to preserve and increase all the precious technologies and skills of manned space flights, which were obtained in the second half of the 20th century at an incredible price. In the “space race” of the USSR and the USA, big money was spent, many people died - all this may be in vain if we stop moving in the same direction.

It was launched into outer space in 1998. At the moment, for almost seven thousand days, day and night, the best minds of mankind have been working on solving the most complex mysteries in weightlessness.

Space

Every person who at least once saw this unique object asked a logical question: what is the height of the orbit of the international space station? It's just impossible to answer it in one word. The orbit altitude of the International Space Station ISS depends on many factors. Let's consider them in more detail.

The ISS orbit around the Earth is decreasing due to the impact of the rarefied atmosphere. The speed decreases, respectively, and the height decreases. How to go up again? The altitude of the orbit can be changed by the engines of the ships that dock to it.

Various Heights

Over the entire duration of the space mission, several major values ​​have been recorded. Back in February 2011, the height of the ISS orbit was 353 km. All calculations are made in relation to sea level. The height of the ISS orbit in June of the same year increased to three hundred and seventy-five kilometers. But this was far from the limit. Just two weeks later, NASA employees were happy to answer the question "What is the height of the ISS orbit at the moment?" - three hundred and eighty-five kilometers!

And this is not the limit

The height of the ISS orbit was still insufficient to resist natural friction. Engineers took a responsible and very risky step. The height of the ISS orbit was to be increased to four hundred kilometers. But this event happened a little later. The problem was that only ships were lifting the ISS. The orbit height was limited for the shuttles. Only over time, the restriction was abolished for the crew and the ISS. The altitude of the orbit since 2014 has exceeded 400 kilometers above sea level. The maximum average value was recorded in July and amounted to 417 km. In general, altitude adjustments are made constantly to fix the most optimal route.

History of creation

Back in 1984, the US government was hatching plans to launch a large-scale scientific project in the nearest space. It was quite difficult even for the Americans to carry out such a grandiose construction alone, and Canada and Japan were involved in the development.

In 1992, Russia was included in the campaign. In the early nineties, Moscow planned large-scale project"Mir-2". But economic problems prevented grandiose plans from being realized. Gradually, the number of participating countries grew to fourteen.

Bureaucratic delays took more than three years. Only in 1995 was the sketch of the station adopted, and a year later - the configuration.

November 20, 1998 was an outstanding day in the history of world cosmonautics - the first block was successfully delivered into the orbit of our planet.

Assembly

The ISS is ingenious in its simplicity and functionality. The station consists of independent blocks, which are interconnected like a large constructor. It is impossible to calculate the exact cost of the object. Each new block is made in a different country and, of course, varies in price. In total, a huge number of such parts can be attached, so the station can be constantly updated.

Validity

Due to the fact that the station blocks and their content can be changed and upgraded an unlimited number of times, the ISS can surf the expanses of near-Earth orbit for a long time.

The first alarm bell rang in 2011, when the space shuttle program was canceled due to its high cost.

But nothing terrible happened. Cargoes were regularly delivered into space by other ships. In 2012, a private commercial shuttle even successfully docked to the ISS. Subsequently, a similar event occurred repeatedly.

Threats to the station can only be political. Periodically officials different countries are threatening to stop supporting the ISS. At first, maintenance plans were scheduled until 2015, then until 2020. To date, there is tentatively an agreement to maintain the station until 2027.

In the meantime, politicians are arguing among themselves, the ISS in 2016 made a hundred thousandth orbit around the planet, which was originally called the "Jubilee".

Electricity

Sitting in the dark is, of course, interesting, but sometimes annoying. On the ISS, every minute is worth its weight in gold, so the engineers were deeply puzzled by the need to provide the crew with uninterrupted electrics.

Many different ideas were proposed, and in the end they agreed that nothing could be better than solar panels in space.

When implementing the project, the Russian and American sides took different paths. Thus, the generation of electricity in the first country is produced for a system of 28 volts. The voltage in the American block is 124 V.

During the day, the ISS makes many orbits around the Earth. One revolution is about an hour and a half, forty-five minutes of which pass in the shade. Of course, at this time, generation from solar panels is impossible. The station is powered by nickel-hydrogen batteries. The service life of such a device is about seven years. Last time they were changed back in 2009, so the long-awaited replacement will be carried out by engineers very soon.

Device

As previously written, the ISS is a huge constructor, the parts of which are easily interconnected.

As of March 2017, the station has fourteen elements. Russia has supplied five blocks named Zarya, Poisk, Zvezda, Rassvet and Pirs. The Americans gave their seven parts the following names: "Unity", "Destiny", "Tranquility", "Quest", "Leonardo", "Domes" and "Harmony". The countries of the European Union and Japan so far have one block each: Columbus and Kibo.

Parts are constantly changing depending on the tasks assigned to the crew. Several more blocks are on the way, which will significantly enhance the research capabilities of the crew members. The most interesting, of course, are the laboratory modules. Some of them are completely sealed. Thus, absolutely everything can be explored in them, up to alien living beings, without the risk of infection for the crew.

Other blocks are designed to generate the necessary environments for normal human life. Still others allow you to freely go into space and make research, observations or repairs.

Some of the blocks do not carry a research load and are used as storage facilities.

Ongoing research

Numerous studies - in fact, for the sake of which, in the distant nineties, politicians decided to send a designer into space, the cost of which today is estimated at more than two hundred billion dollars. For this money, you can buy a dozen countries and get a small sea as a gift.

So, the ISS has such unique capabilities that no other terrestrial laboratory has. The first is the presence of an infinite vacuum. The second is the actual absence of gravity. Third - the most dangerous not spoiled by refraction in the earth's atmosphere.

Don't feed researchers with bread, but let them study something! They happily carry out the duties assigned to them, even despite the mortal risk.

Most scientists are interested in biology. This area includes biotechnology and medical research.

Other scientists often forget about sleep when studying physical forces extraterrestrial space. Materials, quantum physics - only part of the research. According to the revelations of many, a favorite pastime is to test various liquids in zero gravity.

Experiments with a vacuum, in general, can be carried out outside the blocks, right in open space. Earthly scientists can only envy in a good way, watching the experiments via video link.

Any person on Earth would give anything for one spacewalk. For the workers of the station, this is practically a routine task.

findings

Despite the dissatisfied exclamations of many skeptics about the futility of the project, ISS scientists have made a lot of interesting discoveries, which allowed us to look differently at the cosmos as a whole, and at our planet.

Every day these brave people receive a huge dose of radiation, and all for the sake of scientific research that will give humanity unprecedented opportunities. One can only admire their efficiency, courage and purposefulness.

The ISS is a fairly large object that can be seen from the surface of the Earth. There is even a whole site where you can enter the coordinates of your city and the system will tell you exactly what time you can try to see the station, being in a sun lounger right on your balcony.

Of course, the space station has many opponents, but there are many more fans. And this means that the ISS will confidently stay in its orbit of four hundred kilometers above sea level and will show inveterate skeptics more than once how wrong they were in their forecasts and predictions.

2014-09-11. NASA announced plans to launch six installations into orbit, which will conduct regular monitoring earth's surface. The Americans intend to send these devices to the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of the second decade of the 21st century. According to experts, the most modern equipment will be installed on them. According to scientists, the location of the ISS in orbit offers great advantages for observing the planet. The first installation, ISS-RapidScat, will be sent to the ISS with the help of private company SpaceX no earlier than September 19, 2014. The sensor is going to be installed on the outside of the station. It is intended for monitoring ocean winds, forecasting weather and hurricanes. ISS-RapidScat was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The second instrument, CATS (Cloud-Aerosol Transport System), is a laser instrument that is designed to observe clouds and measure the content of aerosols, smoke, dust and pollutants in them. These data are necessary to understand how human activity (primarily the burning of hydrocarbons) affects the environment. It is expected that it will be sent to the ISS by the same company SpaceX in December 2014. CATS met at the Center space flights Goddard in Greenbelt, Maryland. The launches of ISS-RapidScat and CATS, along with the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 probe into orbit in July 2014, designed to study the carbon content in the planet's atmosphere, make 2014 the busiest year in the NASA Earth research program in the last ten years. The agency is going to send two other installations to the ISS by 2016. One of them, SAGE III (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III), will measure the content of aerosols, ozone, water vapor and other compounds in the upper atmosphere. It is necessary to control the processes global warming, in particular, behind the ozone holes above the Earth. The SAGE III instrument was developed in research center NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia and assembled by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. Roskosmos took part in the work of the previous SAGE III mission - Meteor-3M. With the help of another device, which will be launched into orbit in 2016, the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) sensor, lightning coordinates will be detected over the tropical and middle latitudes of the globe. The device will communicate with ground services to coordinate their work. The fifth device, GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation), will use a laser to study forests and make observations on the carbon balance in them. Experts note that the operation of the laser may require large quantities energy. GEDI was designed by scientists at the University of Maryland at College Park. The sixth device - ECOSTRESS (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station) - is a thermal imaging spectrometer. The device is designed to study the processes of the water cycle in nature. The device was created by specialists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Work on the International Space Station (ISS, in the English literature ISS - International Space Station) began in 1993. By this time, Russia had more than 25 years of experience in operating the Salyut and Mir orbital stations, had unique experience in conducting long-term flights ( up to 438 days of continuous human stay in orbit), as well as a variety of space systems (orbital station "Mir", manned and cargo transport vehicles such as "Soyuz" and "Progress") and developed infrastructure to ensure their flights. But by 1991, Russia was in a state of serious economic crisis and could no longer maintain funding for astronautics at the same level. At the same time and, in general, for the same reason (ending “ cold war”), the creators of the Freedom orbital station (USA) found themselves in a difficult financial situation. Therefore, a proposal appeared to combine the efforts of Russia and the United States in the implementation of manned programs.

On March 15, 1993, General Director of the Russian Space Agency (RSA) Yu.N. September 2, 1993 Prime Minister Russian Federation V. S. Chernomyrdin and US Vice President A. Gore signed the "Joint Statement on Cooperation in Space", which provided for the creation of the ISS. In its development, RSA and NASA on November 1, 1993 signed the "Detailed Work Plan for the International Space Station." In June 1994, a contract was signed between NASA and RSA "On supplies and services for the Mir and ISS stations." As a result of further negotiations, it was determined that, in addition to Russia (RKA) and the USA (NASA), Canada (CSA), Japan (NASDA) and the countries of European cooperation (ESA), a total of 16 countries, are participating in the creation of the station, and that the station will consist of 2 integrated segments (Russian and American) and assembled in orbit gradually from separate modules. The main work should be completed by 2003; the total mass of the station by this time will exceed 450 tons. The delivery of cargo and crews into orbit is carried out by Russian Proton and Soyuz launch vehicles, as well as American reusable space shuttles.

The head organization for the creation of the Russian segment and its integration with the American segment is the Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia named after V.I. S.P. Koroleva, for the American segment - the Boeing company. The technical coordination of work on the Russian segment of the ISS is carried out by the Council of Chief Designers under the leadership of the President and General Designer of RSC Energia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu.P. Semenov. The Interstate Commission for Flight Support and Operation of Manned Orbital Systems is in charge of preparing and conducting the launch of elements of the ISS Russian Segment. In the manufacture of elements of the Russian segment are involved: Experimental Machine Building Plant RSC Energia named after. S.P. Koroleva and the Rocket and Space Plant GKNPTs them. M.V. Khrunichev, as well as GNP RCC "TsSKB-Progress", Design Bureau of General Mechanical Engineering, RNII of Space Instrumentation, Research Institute of Precision Instruments, RGNII TsPK im. Yu.A. Gagarina, Russian Academy of Sciences, organization "Agat" and others (about 200 organizations in total).

Stages of construction of the station.

The deployment of the ISS began with the launch on November 20, 1998 using the Proton rocket of the Zarya functional cargo unit (FGB), built in Russia. On December 5, 1998, the Space Shuttle Endeavor was launched (flight number STS-88, commander - R.Kabana, crew member - Russian cosmonaut S.Krikalev) with the American docking module NODE-1 ("Unity") on board. On December 7, Endeavor moored to the FGB, moved it with a manipulator and docked the NODE-1 module to it. The crew of the ship "Endeavor" carried out the installation of communication equipment and repair work at the FGB (inside and outside). On December 13, undocking was made, and on December 15, landing.

On May 27, 1999, Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-96) launched and docked with the ISS on May 29. The crew transferred cargo to the station, performed engineering works, installed on the transition module the post of the operator of the cargo boom and the adapter for its fastening. June 4 - undocking, June 6 - landing.

On May 18, 2000, Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-101) launched and docked with the ISS on May 21. The crew carried out repair work at the FGB and the installation of a cargo boom and handrails on the outer surface of the station. The shuttle engine carried out correction (ascent) of the ISS orbit. May 27 - undocking, May 29 - landing.

On July 26, 2000, the Zvezda service module was docked with the Zarya-Unity modules. Start of operation in orbit of the complex "Zvezda" - "Zarya" - "Unity" with a total mass of 52.5 tons.

From the moment (November 2, 2000) of the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft docking with the ISS with the ISS-1 crew on board (V. Shepherd - expedition commander, Yu. mode and conducting scientific and technical research on it.

Scientific and technical experiments on the ISS.

The formation of a scientific research program on the Russian Segment (RS) of the ISS began in 1995 after the announcement of a competition among scientific institutions, industrial organizations and higher educational institutions. 406 applications were received from over 80 organizations across 11 major research areas. In 1999, taking into account the technical study of the feasibility of received applications carried out by RSC Energia specialists, the Long-Term Program of Scientific and Applied Research and Experiments Planned on the ISS RS was developed, approved CEO Russian Aviation and Space Agency Yu.N. Koptev and President Russian Academy Sciences Yu.S.Osipov.

The main scientific and technical tasks of the ISS:

– study of the Earth from space;

– study of physical and biological processes under conditions of weightlessness and controlled gravity;

– astrophysical observations, in particular, the station will have a large complex of solar telescopes;

– testing of new materials and devices for work in space;

– development of assembly technology in orbit large systems, including with the use of robots;

– testing of new pharmaceutical technologies and pilot production of new drugs in microgravity;

– Pilot production of semiconductor materials.

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At the beginning of the 20th century, astronautical pioneers such as Hermann Oberth, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Nordung, and Wernher von Braun dreamed of vast, revolving around. These scientists assumed that space stations were the starting points for space exploration.

Wernher von Braun, the architect of the US space program, integrated space stations into his long-term vision for space exploration in the US. To accompany von Braun's numerous space articles in popular magazines, artists drew space station concepts. These articles and drawings helped spark the public imagination and interest in space exploration, which was essential to the creation of the US space program.

In these space station concepts, people lived and worked in space. Most of the stations were wheel-shaped structures that rotated to provide artificial power. Like any port, ships traveled to and from the station. The ship carried cargo, passengers, and supplies from Earth. Departing ships went to Earth, and beyond. As you know, this shared vision is no longer just the vision of scientists, artists, and science fiction writers. But what steps have been taken to create such orbital structures? Although mankind has not yet realized the full visions of scientists, there have been significant advances in the construction of space stations.

Since 1971, the US and Russia have had orbiting space stations. The first space stations were the Russian Salyut program, the Skylab program in the United States, and the Russkiy Mir program. And since 1998, the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada, Japan and other countries have been building and operating near-Earth. On the ISS, people have been living and working in space for more than 10 years.

In this article, we look at early space station programs, the use of space stations, and the future role of space stations in space exploration. But first, let's take a closer look at why we should build space stations.

Why should we build space stations?

There are many reasons for building and operating space stations, including research, industry, exploration, and even tourism. The first space stations were built to study the long-term effects of weightlessness on the human body. After all, if astronauts ever want to go to Mars or otherwise, then we need to know how prolonged microgravity for months and years will affect their health.

Space stations are a place to conduct cutting-edge scientific research in conditions that cannot be created on Earth. For example, gravity changes the way atoms combine into crystals. Under microgravity conditions, nearly perfect crystals can form. Such crystals could provide better semiconductors for faster computers or effective drugs. Another effect of gravity is that it creates convection currents in the flame, which leads to non-stationary processes, which makes it difficult to study the combustion process. However, in microgravity, a simple, steady, slow flame is obtained; these types of flames make it easier to study the combustion process. The information obtained can provide a better understanding of the combustion process and lead to improved furnace designs or reduced air pollution through improved combustion efficiency.

From a height above the Earth, space stations offer unique views for studying the weather, the Earth's topography, vegetation, oceans and. Also, since space stations are above the earth's atmosphere, they can be used as manned observatories where space telescopes can look at the heavens. Earth's atmosphere does not interfere with the views of space telescopes. In fact, we have already seen the benefits of unmanned space telescopes such as .

Space stations can be used as space hotels. Here, private companies can ferry tourists from Earth to space for short visits or long stays. Even the big expansions of tourism are that space stations can become space ports for expeditions to planets and stars, or even new cities and colonies that could liberate an overpopulated planet.

Now that you know why we need this, let's visit some space stations. And let's start with Russian program"Salyut" - the first space station.

Salyut: the first space station

Russia (then known as the Soviet Union) was the first to host a space station. The Salyut-1 station, launched into orbit in 1971, was actually a combination of Almaz and Soyuz spacecraft systems. The Almaz system was originally designed for space military purposes, but was re-equipped for the civilian Salyut space station. Spaceship The Soyuz ferried cosmonauts from Earth to the space station and back.

Salyut 1 was about 15 meters long and consisted of three main compartments, which housed dining and recreation areas, food and water stores, a toilet, control stations, simulators and scientific equipment. The crew were originally supposed to live aboard Salyut 1, but their mission was plagued by docking problems that prevented them from entering the space station. The Soyuz-11 team was the first team to successfully survive Salyut 1, which they did for 24 days. However, the Soyuz 11 crew tragically died after returning to Earth when the Soyuz 11 capsule depressurized during the return. Further missions to Salyut 1 were canceled and the Soyuz spacecraft was redesigned.

After Soyuz 11, another Salyut 2 space station was launched, but it failed to reach orbit, followed by Salyuts 3-5. These flights tested the new Soyuz spacecraft and crews manned by these stations for longer missions. One disadvantage of these space stations was that they had only one docking port for the Soyuz spacecraft and could not be re-docked with other spacecraft.

On September 29, 1977, the Soviets launched Salyut 6. This station had a second docking port where the station could be replaced. "Salyut-6" worked from 1977 to 1982. In 1982, the last of the Salyut programs started. It contained 11 carriages and was inhabited for 800 days. The Salyut program eventually led to the development of the Russian space station Mir, which we will discuss in a moment. But first, let's look at America's first space station: Skylab.

Skylab: America's first space station

In 1973, the United States placed its first and only space station, called Skylab-1, in orbit. During launch, the station was damaged. The critical meteoroid shield and one of the station's two main solar panels were ripped off, and the other solar panel was not fully extended. This meant that Skylab had little electrical power, and the internal temperature rose to 52 degrees Celsius.

The first Skylab 2 crew was launched 10 days later to fix the sick station. The astronauts pulled out the remaining solar panel and installed an umbrella sunshade to cool the station. After the repair of the station, the astronauts spent 28 days in space, conducting scientific and biomedical research. The modified Skylab had the following parts: orbital workshop - living and working quarters for the crew; gateway module – access to the external side of the station is allowed; several docking adapters - allowed several spacecraft to dock with the station at once (however, the station never had crossing crews); telescopes to observe , and (keep in mind it hasn't been built yet); Apollo is a command and service module for transporting crew to and from the Earth's surface. Skylab was equipped with two additional crews.

Skylab was never meant to be a permanent home in space, but rather a place where the United States could experience the effects of long-duration spaceflight (that is, more than the two weeks it takes to go to the Moon) on the human body when the third crew flight was completed. Skylab was abandoned. Skylab remained airborne while intense activity solar flare did not cause its orbit to break earlier than expected. Skylab entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up over Australia in 1979.

Mir: the first permanent space station

In 1986, the Russians launched the Space Station, which was to be their permanent home in space. The first crew, cosmonauts Leonid Kizima and Vladimir Solovyov, stormed between the retired Salyut 7 and Mir. They spent 75 days aboard the Mir. The world was constantly completed and built over the next 10 years and contained the following parts:

- Living quarters - there are separate cabins for the crew, toilet, shower, kitchen and garbage storage;

– Transport compartment – ​​where additional stations can be connected;

- Intermediate compartment - plug-in working module to the rear docking ports;

- Assembly compartment - placed fuel tanks and rocket engines;

– Kvant-1 astrophysics module – contained telescopes for studying galaxies, quasars and neutron stars;

– Scientific and aviation module Kvant-2 – provided equipment for biological research, Earth observation and space flight capabilities;

- Technological module "Crystal" - was used for experiments on biological and material processing; contained a docking port that could be used with the US Space Shuttle;

– The Spectrum module was used to study and monitor the natural resources of the Earth and the Earth's atmosphere, as well as to support experiments in the field of biological and materials science research;

- Natural remote sensing module - contained radars and spectrometers for studying the Earth's atmosphere;

- Docking module - contained ports for future dockings;

- Supply ship - an unmanned supply ship that brought new products and equipment from Earth and removed waste from the station;

- The Soyuz spacecraft provided the main transport to and from the Earth's surface.

In 1994, in preparation for the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts (including Norm Tagar, Shannon Lucid, Jerry Lianger, and Michael Foal) spent time aboard Mir. During Linier's stay, Mir was damaged by fire. During Foel's stay, the Progress ship crashed into Mir.

The Russian space agency could no longer afford to support Mir, so NASA and the Russian space agency planned to withdraw the station to focus on the ISS. On November 16, 2000, the Russian Space Agency decided to return Mir to Earth. In February 2001, Mir was turned off to slow it down. The world re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on March 23, 2001, burned and disintegrated. The wreckage collapsed in the southern part Pacific Ocean about 1,667 km east of Australia. This marked the end of the first permanent space station.

International Space Station (ISS)

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proposed that the United States, in cooperation with other countries, build a permanently inhabited space station. Reagan envisioned a station that would support government and industry. To help with the huge costs of the station, the US has created a joint effort with 14 other countries (Canada, Japan, Brazil and the European Space Agency, which includes: UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden). During the planning of the ISS and after the breakup Soviet Union The United States invited Russia to cooperate on the ISS in 1993; this brought the number of participating countries to 16. NASA took the lead in coordinating the construction of the ISS.

The assembly of the ISS in orbit began in 1998. On October 31, 2000, the first crew of the ISS was launched from Russia. The three-man team spent almost five months aboard the ISS, activating systems and conducting experiments.

Speaking of the future, let's see what the future of space stations might be.

The future of space stations

We are just starting the development of space stations. The ISS will be significantly improved compared to Salyut, Skylab and Mir; but we are still far from the realization of large space stations or colonies, as science fiction authors suggest. So far, none of our space stations have had any seriousness. One of the reasons for this is that we want a place without gravity so that we can study its effects. Another is that we lack the technology to practically rotate a large structure, like a space station, to create artificial gravity. In the future, artificial gravity will become a requirement for space colonies with large populations.

Another popular idea concerns the location of the space station. The ISS will require periodic reuse due to its position in low Earth orbit. However, there are two places between the Earth and the Moon, called the Lagrange points L-4 and L-5. At these points, the Earth's gravity and the Moon's gravity balance, so an object placed there will not be pulled towards the Earth or the Moon. The orbit would be stable and would not require adjustment. As we learn more about our experiences on the ISS, we can build bigger and better space stations that will allow us to live and work in space, and the dreams of Tsiolkovsky and early astronauts may someday come true.

The Tiangong-1 station weighs 8.5 tons. Its length is 12 m, its diameter is 3.3 m. It was launched into orbit in 2011. Almost three years later, control over the station was lost. Florida Central University professor Roger Handberg suggested that the orbit correction thrusters had used up all the fuel.

Debris from China's Tiangong-1 space station deorbiting could fall into several European countries. This was reported by The Hill, citing experts from the California Aerospace Corporation. “Most likely, they will crash into the ocean, but scientists nevertheless warned Spain, Portugal, France and Greece that some debris could fall within their borders,” –– writes The Hill.