essay on visit to space station

The scientific and cultural impact of the International Space Station after 25 years

Geoff Bennett Geoff Bennett

Karina Cuevas Karina Cuevas

Miles O'Brien Miles O'Brien

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This week marks the 25th anniversary of when astronauts first entered the beginnings of the International Space Station. A quarter of a century later, the station is manned by seven international crew members and has become an iconic and important part of space history. But the celebration is bittersweet as the ISS is set to be decommissioned. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Miles O’Brien.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Geoff Bennett:

This week marks the 25th anniversary of when astronauts first stepped onto the beginnings of a new International Space Station.

A quarter-of-a-century later, the station is now manned by seven international crew members and has become an iconic and important part of space history. It circles the globe almost every 90 minutes.

But the celebration is bittersweet, as the station is set to be decommissioned.

I spoke earlier about it with our science correspondent, Miles O'Brien.

Miles, thanks for joining us.

What would you say are the main accomplishments of the International Space Station 25 years later?

Miles O’Brien:

I would say, Geoff, it is not so much the science, as it is the partnership itself.

The fact that the former Cold War space race rivals, the U.S. and Russia, got together in a partnership, along with Europe, Japan and Canada, about 15 nations in all, and managed to make this partnership work all this time is truly extraordinary, especially when you consider recent events in Ukraine and some concerns that the partnership would go sideways.

And yet, at the cosmonaut level, the engineer level, there are healthy and safe relationships, most importantly, for the International Space Station which have endured. And there's a lesson in there somewhere, the fact that a peacetime project like this involving multiple nations could last so long. I can't think of anything quite like it.

Well, beyond the important relationships and the diplomacy, what can you tell us about the science that has been conducted on board?

It's been interesting.

Most of the science, frankly, is all about allowing humans and spacecraft to endure space for long periods of time. So it's narrowly focused in many respects on its own mission. However, there have been some spillovers into other areas. And NASA likes to tout the space station as a way of solving problems here on Earth.

Just to give you an example, though, when you learn about osteoporosis on Earth, it has a lot to do with what astronauts encounter when they're in space. Their bones become brittle and become weaker. And as they return to Earth, they have a hard time rebuilding all of that. So they have learned about how to manage that by learning how to keep their astronauts safe in space.

So there has been some science. The idea, though, that they would somehow go up there and grow these protein crystals in zero gravity in a way that you could identify new ways to make drugs and cure cancer, that has not happened, however.

Well, 25 years is an eternity when it comes to tech and innovation. And the ISS has these Russian modules on board, which I understand have had all sorts of technical issues, including some leaks.

So when is the International Space Station slated for retirement?

Yes, Geoff, it's a little long in tooth at this point. Some of the Russian modules have been leaking and there have been other problems along the way. It's getting old.

Right now, NASA has committed to flying the station until 2030. The Russians say they want to get out a little bit sooner, but we are in the latter days of the space station era, at least the International Space Station era. Maybe others will follow.

Well, once the space station is gone, will there be destinations for NASA or other commercial spacecraft in low-Earth orbit?

Well, it's a little bit like what happened after the shuttle.

NASA turned to lean on private enterprise a little more, mostly with SpaceX. In this case, NASA is seeking commercial entities to build space stations that NASA could use as a destination and pay to visit. One of the companies, Axiom, based in Houston, which has a lot of old NASA space station players involved in it, actually has a docking port on the current International Space Station and aims to launch a module onto the space station to get it sort of up and running.

And then, when the space station goes off into the horizon, so to speak, off into the West, they would undock and begin building this commercial station. The concern is, there will be some sort of gap once again, as there was after the shuttle retired, before the U.S. was able to get astronauts in space from U.S. soil.

Do I have it right, Miles, that China will be the only nation to directly operate a space station by 2030? What kind of problems does that create?

It's interesting.

You think of the decision back in 2006, I believe it was, when Congress said NASA should not partner with the Chinese on the space station. The Chinese really wanted in. You have got to wonder if that was the best decision, in retrospect.

But, yes, China has a space station now. It's been up and running, continuously manned now since 2021. The U.S. presumably will move into this commercial space station. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin claims Russia will build another government-run space station that it hopes to have in orbit by 2027.

Remains to be seen if that's going to be real. But, regardless, I think it's important for NASA to have a destination in low-Earth orbit that it can go to. If a commercial player will do it, that'd be great. I think it's a pretty difficult business case, however.

And my last question, Miles, is a fairly practical one.

How will NASA ensure that this giant space station doesn't become dangerous space junk and reenter the atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner?

Yes, this is the Skylab scenario, 1979. The first U.S. space station fell out of the sky in an uncontrolled manner because it was waiting for the space shuttle to come boosted and it wasn't ready to do that.

And so it came down. Most of it landed in the Indian Ocean. Parts of it landed over Western Australia. It was a very controversial thing and had a lot of people scared there for a little while. What they will do in this case is build a giant space tug, maybe turning to SpaceX. We will see.

Attach it to the space station, so it can be thrust down in a controlled manner into the Southern Pacific Ocean, where no one gets hurt, hopefully.

Like a cosmic tow truck.

Miles O'Brien, thanks so much.

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Geoff Bennett serves as co-anchor of PBS NewsHour. He also serves as an NBC News and MSNBC political contributor.

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Axiom-1 Launch Updates Highlights From SpaceX and NASA’s First Private Launch to the Space Station

The Ax-1 mission is carrying three paying passengers and a retired NASA astronaut to the orbital outpost for the company Axiom Space.

By The New York Times

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Kenneth Chang

What a stay on the space station is like.

The Axiom-1 astronauts are not the first private citizens to visit the International Space Station. But this is the first time that NASA has been actively involved in this kind of trip.

The space station is divided into sections built by different partner countries involved in the project, with the largest segments belonging to the United States and Russia. Previous visitors traveled to the space station on Russian Soyuz rockets and largely stayed on the Russian side of the station.

“They’ve come over to the U.S. segment,” Dana Weigel, deputy program manager for the space station at NASA, said of earlier visitors during a news conference on Thursday. “But their interest is usually in two different things. One is using our cupola so they can get great photos out of the window . And the other is using email.”

The Axiom-1 crew members underwent much of the same training as NASA astronauts, especially for what to do during an emergency. Ms. Weigel gave the toilet as an example. They needed to learn how the space station toilets work, but, as guests, they didn’t need to train how to repair the toilet if it malfunctioned.

“We said, ‘What is a day in the life of a private astronaut?’” Ms. Weigel said. She added: “Video and photography is really important. So their training includes that.”

“We kind of went through what are all the different things they need to do, they need to learn: how to use our galley so they can prepare food,” she continued. “Hygiene is very unique in a microgravity environment, so they get hygiene training. And so there’s a lot of daily living training, just so that they’re comfortable and know how to kind of operate independently on board.”

With a larger-than-usual number of people staying on the U.S. segment, some of the sleeping quarters are makeshift in various parts of the station. One person will be sleeping in the Crew Dragon, Ms. Weigel said.

The Axiom passengers will be busy conducting 25 experiments on the station, but careful not to get in the way of other crew members.

“We’re very cognizant that we will be guests aboard the I.S.S.,” said Michael López-Alegría, the former NASA astronaut and current Axiom executive who is commanding this mission.

The Axiom visitors may also get to visit the Russian side of the station, but that would have to be at the invitation of the Russian astronauts.

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Michael Roston

Earlier today, there was the rare site of two rockets on launchpads at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at the same time: The Space Launch System rocket that will head to the moon for the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, right, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket that just carried Ax-1 to orbit. But the large NASA moon rocket isn’t going anywhere yet — it needs to complete a dress rehearsal for its future launch, which will resume in the coming days.

The astronauts will now spend nearly a day in orbit before reaching the space station.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is taking an 20.5 hour-trip to the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon is a gumdrop-shaped capsule — an upgraded version of SpaceX’s original Dragon capsule, which has been used many times to carry cargo. It is roughly comparable in size to the Apollo capsule that took NASA astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s. Earlier NASA capsules — Mercury and Gemini — were considerably smaller.

The capsule has more interior space than a minivan, but less than a studio apartment. And there is a bathroom. As you can probably imagine, you and some of your friends may be able to pile into a space like that for a brief time, but much longer could become uncomfortable.

Axiom said the crew might provide an update from the Dragon spacecraft en route to the space station.

Docking is scheduled for 7:45 a.m. on Saturday. Then, checks to make sure the spacecraft is securely docked without any air leaks will take about two hours before the hatch to the space station is opened.

Because this is not a NASA spacecraft, NASA’s involvement in the launch and journey to the space station is minimal. Until the Crew Dragon gets close to the I.S.S., SpaceX and Axiom are in charge of everything.

The Crew Dragon has separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Everything has gone flawlessly, and the Axiom-1 astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station. They’ll get there tomorrow morning.

Dragon has separated from Falcon 9’s second stage pic.twitter.com/jVTRzI7t8m — SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 8, 2022

The booster stage has landed on the drone ship.

The second-stage engine has shut down. The spacecraft is now in orbit.

"Zero-g and we feel fine" - @CommanderMLA #Ax1 pic.twitter.com/6RhonfF9Ur — Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) April 8, 2022

SpaceX’s floating platforms — or drone ships — have fanciful names. The one used today is called A Shortfall of Gravitas.

During rocket launches, the word you want to hear over and over is “nominal.” That means everything is going as it is supposed to.

The first stage booster now heads back to Earth, back through the atmosphere, to land on a floating platform in about 10 minutes.

The first stage engines have cut off, as expected and the first stage has dropped away, with the second-stage engine igniting.

Countdown events pass quickly in the last couple of minutes. The Dragon is on its own power now and other systems are starting up.

This takes commerce to a whole new level. @Axiom_Space 's #Ax1 mission is on its way to the @Space_Station in @SpaceX 's Dragon Endeavour—a key step in our ongoing work to open opportunities for space travelers in low-Earth orbit. pic.twitter.com/SZk7Tseykw — NASA (@NASA) April 8, 2022

Propellant tanks are full and the “strongback” — the vertical structure that connects to the Falcon 9 until the final minutes of the countdown — has tilted away from the rocket. A few minutes until liftoff.

Loading of liquid oxygen has begun in addition to the RP-1 rocket fuel (which is essentially kerosene). 15 minutes until launch.

How dangerous is the flight?

The crew is flying on the same spacecraft that NASA uses to take astronauts to orbit. That means the space agency has required it to meet a number of safety standards. In five journeys so far, no significant safety problems have been reported with the spacecraft.

But every journey to space presents dangers from the moment the crew members are sealed into a spacecraft until the moment they safely exit. Astronauts have died on the launchpad (like the Apollo 1 disaster), as they headed to orbit (the space shuttle Challenger) and as they re-entered the atmosphere (the space shuttle Columbia). The Apollo 13 mission’s mishap showed the difficulty in bringing back a crew when the crippled spacecraft is far from Earth.

Five successful trips of a spacecraft also does not mean all potential problems have been discovered and fixed. There were 24 successful space shuttle missions before the loss of Challenger in 1986.

Even the astronauts aboard Crew Dragon have encountered risks. During a flight to the space station in April, mission controllers warned the crew that a piece of space debris was about to whiz past. The astronauts put on their spacesuits, got back in their seats and lowered their protective visors. The flight continued to the space station without incident and later analysis showed that it was a false alarm, that no debris actually passed near the spacecraft.

In the days leading up to his launch in September last year during the Inspiration4 mission, Jared Isaacman, the flight’s commander, compared it with his hobby of flying fighter jets.

“I also like to look at risk on a relative basis,” Mr. Issacman said. “The last couple days, we’ve been tearing up the skies in fighter jets, which I put it relatively higher risk than this mission so that we’re nice and comfortable as we get strapped into Falcon.”

Propellants are flowing into the Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch escape system is armed. That is to take the crew to safety if there is a malfunction.

The crew access arm is retracting from the Crew Dragon capsule. 45 minutes to go.

One hour until launch. No issues. The weather looks lovely.

Space tourism boomed in 2021.

Last year was a busy year for space tourism.

After years of delays, two companies that aim to capitalize on suborbital trips — short up-and-down jaunts that provide a few minutes of floating — finally passed a landmark goal: flying their billionaire founders.

In July, Richard Branson, who started Virgin Galactic in 2004, was in one of the seats of his company’s rocket plane. Nine days later, Jeff Bezos was provided with a ride by his rocket company, Blue Origin , in its New Shepard capsule.

Three more New Shepard flights carrying paying passengers have flown since, including one that lifted William Shatner, known as Capt. James Kirk of “Star Trek,” to the edge of space. The Virgin Galactic space plane has not flown again as the company completes upgrades.

Trips to orbit are much more ambitious, requiring acceleration to 17,500 miles per hour to avoid falling back to Earth. They are also much more expensive.

Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who founded the payment company Shift4, announced in February that he was essentially chartering a rocket and a spacecraft from SpaceX for a trip to orbit (but not to the space station).

Instead of taking some of his friends along, he gave two seats to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Of those, one went to Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at the hospital who was once a cancer patient there. The second was raffled off and ended up going to Chris Sembroski, a data engineer. A third seat went to the winner of a contest run by Shift4 for space-related entrepreneurial ideas. Sian Proctor, who won that seat, became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft .

The mission, called Inspiration4, spent three days in orbit. It was the first trip to orbit on which none of the people aboard was a professional astronaut.

Russia was also active in the space tourism business last year. In October, a Russian director, Klim Shipenko, and Yulia Peresild, an actress, spent 12 days at the International Space Station to shoot scenes for a movie . In December, Yusaku Mazeawa, a Japanese billionaire , and his assistant also made a 12-day trip to the space station on a Russian Soyuz.

Mr. Isaacman is planning more trips to space. He announced in February that he had purchased three more flights from SpaceX. The flights are part of a program he calls Polaris , designed to demonstrate new technologies and conduct research. The first flight is set to include a spacewalk, the first to be conducted by a private citizen; the last flight is to fly on Starship, the gigantic rocket that SpaceX is currently developing and which is intended to someday take people to Mars.

The leak test passed on the second try and the crew is a little more than an hour from launch.

The hatch is closed again. The leak test will now be repeated. A similar issue occurred during an earlier Crew Dragon mission, so there’s no major problem with the flight at this point, and there is still time in the schedule.

There is a major difference in how SpaceX does its launch preparations compared with what NASA did. For NASA missions from Mercury through the space shuttles, the rocket’s propellant tanks were filled before the astronauts boarded. The thinking was that they did not want astronauts aboard if anything went wrong. SpaceX, however, wants to load the propellants at the last minute, which allows the liquid oxygen to be cooled even more, allowing it to be denser and increasing the rocket's performance. SpaceX convinced NASA that this approach was safe and if anything ever did go wrong, the vehicle's launch abort system would whisk astronauts away to safety

The seal was not tight, so the SpaceX technicians will reopen the hatch and clean the seal, then redo the leak check for the capsule.

The hatch is closed and the Ax-1 crew is sealed inside the spacecraft.

The astronauts went through leak checks of their spacesuits, and will soon be sealed into the Endeavour capsle. There’s a lot to do, which is why liftoff is still two hours away.

Why NASA is finally allowing space tourism.

In 1984, during the Reagan administration, the law that established NASA was amended to encourage private enterprise off Earth: “The general welfare of the United States of America requires that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space.”

For human spaceflight, early commercialization efforts sputtered. Plans to privatize the operating of NASA’s space shuttles were shelved after the loss of Challenger in 1986.

Instead, it was the Soviet space program in the fading years of Communism that was farther ahead of NASA in selling access to space. In 1990, Toyohiro Akiyama, a Japanese television reporter, flew on a Soyuz rocket to the Soviet space station Mir. The trip was paid for by his employer, the Tokyo Broadcasting System.

At the same time, a group of British companies sponsored a contest to send the first British citizen to space. The winner was Helen Sharman, a chemist. She visited Mir in 1991. At the end of the decade, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia leased Mir to MirCorp, a Russian-American commercial venture.

An American, Jeffrey Manber, ran MirCorp, and he envisioned turning the space station into a hub for tourism and entertainment. NBC commissioned a reality television show that would have been produced by Mark Burnett, the creator of “Survivor” and “The Apprentice.”

“If you wanted to work with the capitalists in space in the 1990s, you worked with the Russians,” Mr. Manber joked in an interview in 2018. “If you wanted to work with the socialists, you worked with NASA.”

MirCorp’s dreams were not realized, because NASA insisted that Russia scuttle Mir and focus on the International Space Station instead.

To the consternation of NASA officials, Russia sold trips to the International Space Station. Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur, was the first Russian-hosted tourist on the station, in 2001. But Russia stopped taking private travelers in 2009 when, with the impending retirement of the space shuttles, NASA needed to buy available seats on Russian rockets for its astronauts to get to and from the space station.

With SpaceX now able to provide transportation for American astronauts and NASA no longer a paying customer, Russia has resumed selling rides to the space station. The most recent trips, at the end of 2021, were a Russian director and actress shooting a movie and a Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa , and his assistant.

In the last few years, NASA has opened up to the idea of space tourism. It hopes that private companies will be able to launch commercial bases into orbit to eventually replace the International Space Station. Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator during the Trump administration , often spoke of NASA’s being one customer out of many and of how that would greatly reduce costs for NASA.

But for NASA to be one customer of many, there have to be other customers. Eventually, other applications like pharmaceutical research or zero-gravity manufacturing may finally come to fruition.

But for now, the most promising market is wealthy people who pay to visit space themselves.

International Space Station: Origin, Purpose, Structure, Power Supply Essay

Introduction, the purpose of the international space station, assembly and structure, power supply.

A space station can be defined as a man-made structure built for humans so that they can live in outer space. The concept of the space station was brought about in 1869 by Edward Everett when he described the Brick moon a satellite used to navigate ships in the ocean. Today only the low earth orbit also known as orbital stations have been built. Unlike vehicles, space stations are built to live in the orbit as per the period assigned (Waber, 1998).

On the other hand, the international space station is the world’s largest and most complex research facility being assembled in low earth orbit. It is located at 360 km altitude on an orbit that goes around the Earth and goes around the Earth in one and half hours. It is considered to be the biggest satellite in the whole universe. Its construction began in 1998 and is targeted to end by the year 2011 with an extension of four years to completely end in 2015.

The international space station program is a joint venture between the National Aeronautics and space administration (NASA) of the United States of America, Russia Federal Space Agency (RKA) of Russia, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) of Japan, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) of Canada and European Space Agency ( ESP) of the European Nations (Launus, 1998). Since the first expedition, the international space station has had staff continuously, thus providing a permanent human presence in the station. In the beginning, only the Russian and the American crew members boarded the space station, they were later joined by Thomas Reiter from Germany in the year 2006. Today the station has been visited by many astronauts from different nations.

International Space Station originated during the cold war. During this time NASA was planning to launch an exemplary space station called Freedom as a copy to the Soviet Slyut and Mir space station. On the other hand, the Soviet was planning to build another space station called Mir2. However, due to financial and design obstacles, space station freedom did not go past the mock-ups and component tests.

After the cold war, the United Nations nearly canceled Space station freedom and due to the soviet economic crisis, Mir2 space station was canceled (Launius, 1998). These problems and other obstacles to space station construction were being experienced by other nations that tried to build the space station. This triggered the beginning of negotiations between these nations which included; Russia, Europe, Japan, America, and Canada, to collaborate in a multi-national space station project.

In 1992 the then US president George W. Bush and the Russian president Boris signed an agreement that called for a short joint venture between the two nations. In 1993 the then US Vice president Al Gore and the then Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chemomyrdin came up with plans for building a new space station which eventually became the International Space Station. The international space station’s aim was to combine all the proposed space stations of all other nations with a mission of enabling long-term space exploration thus providing benefits to the people of the earth. The station will also provide a permanent orbiting station for long-term research on the material and life forms in space. To add to this, due to its unique conditions it will facilitate major research in technology and engineering (Neeson, 2000).

One of the reasons why the international space station was constructed was to provide a conducive environment for conducting experiments that require unusual conditions that can only be found in space, for instance, microgravity conditions. The station offers an advantage over other space crafts as it provides long-term conditions in the space environment thus allowing studies to be performed. With the main research being biology, physics, astronomy, and meteorology the United Nations designate their segment in the international space station as a national laboratory. This allowed for the utilization of the international space station by other nations and the private sector (Bond, 2002).

The international space station also provides a favorable testing place for efficiency and reliability for spacecraft that will have a long mission to the Moon and Mars. This is because it allows for the evaluation of equipment in a safe low Earth Orbit location. This gives an experience in maintaining, repairing, and replacing systems that will be required in driving the spacecraft from the Earth. This reduces mission failure risk and enhances the capability of the spacecraft to complete the mission successfully.

In addition, the international space station allows for the study of human muscles, bones, and fluid change in human bodies due to the long exposure of human beings in space. This will help in space living and allow for lengthy space travel.

In addition, the international space station provides the best place to study the effects of near-weightless on other objects besides human beings. The study is focused on plants and other animals so as to establish an outer space environment that will support the development and growth of these subjects (Waber, 1998).

Last but not least international space station provides opportunities for educational tours and international joint venture. The crew aboard the international space station provides educational opportunities to students on Earth, this is done by allowing students to participate in the classroom of international space station experiments, educational demonstrations, among others. Due to the fact that the crew aboard the international space station comes from different nations the important lessons learned are forwarded to their nations and to future multi-national missions (Launius, 1998).

The assembly of the international spaceship started in 1998 and by early2009 it was considered 81 percent complete. In 1998 the first segment of the international space station, Zarya was launched, this was followed by the first three node modules, unity. The station was stagnant for the next one and half years and it was only in 2000 when the Russian model Zvezda was added. This allowed for at least three crew members to board the station. Later in the year 2000, two segment of the station’s Integrated Truss Structure (Z1 & P6) arrived. This enabled communication, guidance, electrical and power sharing via two solar array wings. In 2003, however, a space ship named Columbia hand an accident and this brought the work on the international space station to a stop.

The work on the international space station however, commenced again in 2005 when another space ship name discovery was launched. This was followed by second set of solar arrays and the third set. With these solar arrays more pressurized modules were required and this lead to the addition of harmony node and Columbia node (Bond, 2002). In 2009 more solar arrays were brought in and this marked the last pair of solar arrays. To date work on the international space station still goes on with more and more pieces of it expected to come in and be joined. The final stage of the international space station is expected to end in the year 2011 but the astronauts are still adding more equipments or segment to the station thus furthering the completion date to the year 2015.

The international space station utilizes the sun as its main source of power. The sun energy is transformed to electric energy by the solar arrays that have been installed in the international space station. In international space station, power is very important as it help pumping clean air and water in to the station. The electricity power is also very important as it illuminates the station and providing energy for pumping the oil need in the station.

In the beginning the only source of energy for the station was the solar panel fixed on the first modules (Zarya &Zvezda). The total power that is converted by the solar arrays is about 130 to 180 volts. This power is used by the whole station. In power transportation only small power lines are used so as to reduce weight in the station. Recently the Russian Science power Platform has been installed and this has enabled power sharing in the station (Neeson, 2000).

In trapping the solar energy, the arrays move as the earth moves by rotating so that they always face the sun, this is aided by the alpha gimbals while the beta gimbals held in getting the right angle for the sun rays. This ensures that there is constant energy flow in the international space station (Waber, 1998).

Bond, P. the Continuing Story of International Space Station. (2002). New York.

Waber, M. E. International Space Station Countdown to Launch. (1998). Alexandria.

Launius, R. Space Stations. The Origin of International Partnership in International Space Station. (1998). Washington.

Neeson, L. Inside the Space Station. A Fantastic First Step to Life off Earth. (2000). Santa Monica. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2021, November 5). International Space Station: Origin, Purpose, Structure, Power Supply. https://ivypanda.com/essays/international-space-station-origin-purpose-structure-power-supply/

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International Space Station essay

The human race sure has its means to uncover the mysteries, not just of the earth, but also of the universe. It has come up with different ways to find the pieces of information so we could add it up to a bank called ‘knowledge’. We have searched under the sea, through our vast lands, and now, a part of the endless horizon of the universe. Since the beginning of time, we have been very impulsive in discovering and unearthing every piece of the puzzle. The International Space Station is one living proof of the humans’ diligence, patience, intelligence, and passion.

The International Space Station or ISS project began in 1980; the project was then called Space Station Freedom and it was in response to the other space stations launched by other nations such as the Salyut and Mir space stations. The project was later put on hold after the Soviet Union and Cold War had ended; but it didn’t end there. In the first half of the 1990’s, the United States of America began negotiating with other nations or countries like Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada for international partnership.

In 1993, the new and improved project was proclaimed and named it Space Station Alpha; it was a collaboration of the different powerful agencies from around the globe: The Space Station Freedom of NASA, Mir-2 of Russia, and the Columbus of ESA. The other nations or agencies that have shown their support and interest are as follows: The Brazilian Space Agency, The Italian Space Agency, and China. The assembly commenced in 1998 and almost everything was done on orbit.

The International Space Station, with an altitude of roughly 350 km above the earth’s surface and with a speed of 27,700 km per hour, is a haven for scientists who want to develop and improve on the humans’ way of life. It weighs 1, 040,000 lbs, measures 256 across and 290 feet long and has the capacity to contain 6 laboratories for on-orbit experimentations. Its main power supply comes from the sun; through the solar panels, the light the sun emits is converted to electricity. The target completion date is 2010 and so ISS has become, if not the only, one of the most complex and most expensive objects / stations here on earth.

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• The Space Race essay

The presence of a human entity can be traced back on November 2, 2000 and ISS has been inhabited since then. The International Space Station: The Purpose of Existence Research and Experimentation have become the main reasons of the existence of the ISS. Since the ISS works on space, it provides the scientist a variation and a different condition for their studies and experiments. The six state-of-the-art laboratories will be used to work on the different fields such as Biology, Physics, Astronomy, and Meteorology. ISS will be home to numerous discoveries and new studies like the study on Protein Crystals.

It is believed that protein crystals can be grown abundantly in space than on Earth. This study of protein crystals can open our eyes to viruses and it also goes without saying that it can also lead us to a better understanding of the matter and of course, to new and more effective drugs or medications. This study could also be the answer to Cancer, Diabetes, and other Immune-System Disorders. The Tissue Culture will also be given enough time to improve on. Because of the absence gravity, the living cells can be developed in there protected from distortion.

This study can also be the key to the cancer treatment that will not put the patients in danger. ISS can also be a means to ‘gravitational experimentations’. There is still no answer to what might happen to a person or to an object that is exposed to reduced gravity over a long period of time. This research can help us better understand the human framework and the functions of the different systems of our body like muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shifts. This study can also act as a ‘test-drive’ if humans can withstand to long exposure to reduced gravity for future uses like space explorations.

Elements can also be experimented on in ISS. We will witness the progress of Combustion Science and Materials Science. Here, we will see improvements on elements such as fire, fluids, and metals. Physics is one are NASA will be studying on since liquids on microgravity haven’t given enough emphasis ever since and scientists would like to work on an accurately model fluid. ISS can also help the humans watch over the Earth directly from space. This can help us gain a better understanding of the Forests, Oceans, Mountains, Volcanic Eruptions, Meteorite Impacts, Hurricanes, and the other forces from nature.

The humans can also be observed from the ISS’ standpoint. This can help us diminish air and water pollution, do something about deforestation and other global issues. For these researches, studies, and experimentations to be possible, different ISS modules were set up. The Destiny Laboratory Module is the main research facility and will act as the facility for general experiments; it was launched in February 2001. The Columbus Module was designed to facilitate scientific experiments and was launched 7 years later. The Japanese Module or Kibo will be launched in January 2009 and it will work on astronomical data and observations.

The ExPress Logistics Carrier of the NASA will be launched in September 2009 and will take care of the experiments that will be conducted in the vacuum of space and other necessary and relevant data. The Multipurpose Laboratory Module by Russia will be the lab for the general microgravity experiments and will be launched in the last quarter of 2009. International Space Station: On-Space Assembly The complexity of the ISS project can be observed from the way it has been built. The construction workers patching up the different areas of ISS are none other than the astronauts 250 miles above the surface of the Earth.

It is an everyday construction work and they used new generation of space robots to act as cranes. 100 components of 45 space flights with three different types of rockets being used in order to make space construction possible. They have scheduled 34 Space Shuttle Missions for the assemblage. A decade of flight tests and mock space walks were conducted. For the actual assemblage, the astronauts had to use enhanced spacesuits, the Shuttle Spacesuit or the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The EMU can be used for 25 spacewalks and after that, it has to be sent back to Earth fixed or restored.

Unlike in other space constructions, the assembly work must be done in a much lower temperature. Enhancements in the EMU include, easily replaceable internal parts, reusable carbon dioxide removal cartridges, metal rings that allows in-flight suit adjustments, new gloves with dexterity, new radio that will allow 5 people to talk at once, fingertip heaters, cooling system shut off, new helmet-mounted flood and spotlights, and Safer, a lifejacket that save the life of the astronaut and will automatically bring him back to the station in case of mishaps.

New generation robotics was used. The acting cranes for this project were the Space Shuttle’s Mechanical Arm and a New Space Station Arm; these arms maneuvered the huge modules, components, and the astronauts. The mechanical arm built in Canada has a Space Vision System (SVS) that helped the see clearly every object and location; it has a video image processing that could give the astronauts graphical laptop display that helped the arms of the cranes work in precision

Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) is a 55-ft arm built in Canada that could move around and attach/ detach itself for Power and Data Grapple Fixtures (PDGF). A Mobile Servicing System is being done so the SSRMS could ride over it to serve as a platform that will move in the station. Another navigator is called the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) that has 2 arms that can direct more complicated tasks. A European Robotic Arm of the European Space Agency is used for the maintenance of the Russian part of the station.

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2. exercise, 3. observe earth, 4. stay in touch, 5. stay clean, 6. get supplies, 7. take time for fun, 8. but wait, there's more, explore more.

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Imagine You're an Astronaut

Astronauts on the International Space Station, or ISS, often spend six to 12 months in space, orbiting Earth. It can be a little cramped staying inside the space station all that time. Astronauts still need to do their everyday living, such as working, eating, relaxing and exercising, but with fewer resources than they have on Earth.

Imagine you and your family are astronauts on the space station right now. You can only use the resources available to you. How would you adapt to the challenges and still keep doing important routines, like exercising, learning and making time for fun?

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See below for materials and step-by-step instructions. For more video tutorials and activities like this one, visit Learning Space .

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In this episode of Learning Space, you'll imagine you’re an astronaut orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station. How is life different and what will you do to adapt to your new environment? | Watch on YouTube

Astronauts are constantly learning. They do all the science experiments that need to happen on the space station. Most of the time, these experiments were designed by someone else, so astronauts need to learn about the science they are doing to follow the right steps and share the results. Astronauts also need to learn how to operate parts of the space station, such as the robotic arm .

How can you keep learning? Can you read a book? Do homework from your teacher? Have an astronaut read you a book ?

Learn more about life on the space station here .

About the Image: NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson looks at a soybean-plant growth experiment on the International Space Station.

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Astronauts need to keep their muscles strong when they’re in space. One way they do this is by running on a treadmill. The treadmill has bungee cords that hold the astronauts down so they don’t float away.

You can keep your muscles strong, too. Do some jumping jacks, pushups, situps, or walk and jog in place so that you’ll be strong enough when you can go exploring.

What other exercises can you do indoors? Make an exercise plan for yourself and your fellow astronauts and monitor your progress. Plus, learn more about how and why astronauts exercise in space .

About the Image: Astronaut Koichi Wakata exercises on the space station's treadmill. Wakata is an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.

Astronauts love to take pictures and videos of Earth from the window of the space station. Seeing Earth in new ways gets them thinking about what makes our planet unique and special.

You can take pictures from your window, too. Think about what makes your street, neighborhood or city unique and take note of the patterns you see. How are the trees and plants changing from day to day? How do the shapes and colors of the clouds change? ( Identify what kinds of clouds they are and make a cloud mobile .) Do you see birds, squirrels or other creatures? What do you notice about them?

Here are some photos of Earth that were taken by astronauts .

About the Image: NASA astronaut Terry Virts takes a photograph from the window of the space station. Virts set the record for the most photos ever taken by an astronaut during a space mission.

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Astronauts keep in touch with their families by email and videoconference.

You can keep in touch with your family and friends by email, phone and video chat or by writing letters and drawing pictures. Make a list of the friends and relatives you want to stay in touch with. Call or write to a few people every day. They will be glad to know you are thinking about them.

About the Image: NASA astronaut Christina Koch shared this photo of herself relaxing on the space station after a busy work week.

+ Expand Image

We all need to stay clean, no matter where we are. We wash our hands with warm water and soap. We brush our teeth. We take baths or showers.

Astronauts have special ways to keep clean while they’re in space. Everything floats on the space station – even water! – so astronauts in space can’t just hop in the shower or use a sink to wash their hands, so they need to get creative. Watch this video to see how astronauts wash their hair in space. Watch these videos to learn more about an astronaut’s morning routine.

About the Image: NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman washes her hair while aboard the International Space Station.

Every few months, a spacecraft travels up to the space station to bring supplies from Earth that astronauts need. During these "resupply missions," astronauts get fresh fruit – a real treat! – new experiments to work on, clean clothes to wear, clean water to drink and food to eat until the next resupply mission comes, plus a few other treats from home.

If you could plan a resupply mission for your home, what would be the most important items to include?

About the Image: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly poses with fresh fruit brought to the space station during a resupply mission.

Relaxation and fun are important, whether you’re in space or on Earth. Astronauts have some time every day to relax and do whatever they enjoy most.

Learn more about some of the hobbies astronauts do in space. Learn how some of your favorite toys behave in space .

What do you like to do for fun? What activities are most relaxing for you?

About the Image: NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and German astronaut Alexander Gerst play soccer on the space station as they get ready to cheer for their teams in the 2014 World Cup.

› Watch video

Here are some things you can do at home that astronauts on the space station can’t do:

• Open a window. This is definitely not recommended for astronauts, who have the vacuum of space outside their window!
• Breathe fresh air. Although the air on the space station is filtered, it’s the same air that’s been there for more than 20 years.
• Wash your clothes. Can you believe there’s no way to do laundry in space?
• Walk. Okay, floating is cool, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to walk around.

What else can you think of that you can do but astronauts in space can’t do?

About the Image: President Richard Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts (from left), Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin (Buzz) E. Aldrin, after their return from the Moon in 1969. The astronauts were required to spend 21 days in quarantine to be sure nothing hitched a ride with them from the Moon.

• Stay hydrated! Astronauts need to drink water when they’re in space. So do you. Drink lots of water. If you wonder how water acts differently on the space station than it does on Earth, watch this video by astronaut Chris Hadfield .
• Grow food. Astronauts are learning how to grow food in the microgravity of space. Astronauts on the space station conducted experiments to grow tomato seeds and basil seeds in space. Students grew seeds on Earth at the same time to compare how they grew in both environments. You can plant seeds and grow your own fruits and vegetables. Learn more about astronauts growing plants in space .
• If you have flour, water and salt, you can make your own play dough. You can sculpt your own planets, moons, rockets, satellites, astronauts and more. Here’s a scale model of the solar system you can make with play dough .
• If you have paper, you can learn how to do origami , the Japanese art of paper folding. Did you know that NASA has origami experts who help figure out how to fit large spacecraft into the tight spaces on rockets?
• If you have paper and a pencil, crayons, colored pencils, markers, pastels, chalk or other art supplies, you can draw planets and moons .
• If you have empty tissue boxes or other cardboard, paper towel tubes, scissors and glue, you can design your own Mars rover .
• If you have access to a computer, you can explore all of the planets in the solar system and the NASA spacecraft that study them with free NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System software .

US participation in space has benefits at home and abroad − reaping them all will require collaboration

Graduate Research Assistant in the Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, University of Oklahoma

Disclosure statement

Cheyenne Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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When people think about what we get from the U.S. space program, it may be along the lines of NASA technology spin-offs such as freeze-dried food and emergency space blankets .

But space activities do much more that benefits life on Earth. Research in space helps scientists study our environment, develop new technologies, create jobs, grow the economy and foster international collaboration.

Of course, with reports of Russia developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon , members of Congress and the media have focused their attention on space defense and military readiness.

This is critical, but there are still many other benefits to reap from space. Getting the most out of U.S. space involvement will require collaborating across various social, environmental, commercial, governmental, international and technological backgrounds.

As a space policy scholar focused on private-public partnerships, networks and coalitions, I’ve seen that policymakers can get the most out of U.S. space endeavors if they invite a wide array of experts into policy discussions.

Benefits on Earth

NASA satellites play a crucial role in documenting changes in global temperatures, sea-level rise, arctic ice extent and air quality . Satellites have also been collecting data for almost 50 years to monitor water use, crop health and crop production . These long-term observations help researchers track environmental changes across the globe.

Space research provides a wide array of technologies in addition to rockets and Moon landers. Cellphone cameras, CAT scanners, the computer mouse, laptops, wireless headsets and water purification systems are just a few public goods NASA has generated.

These spin-off technologies come from NASA’s partnerships with private firms , which subsequently make scientific discoveries widely available and accessible.

Growing the space economy

Experts predict that the space sector will continue driving the development of nonspace industries. Agriculture, energy, mining, transportation and pharmaceuticals are just some of the sectors that benefit through spin-off technologies and space-based research.

For example, scientists can conduct experiments on the International Space Station using the microgravity of space to study the chemistry of drugs, improve medications and test cancer treatments.

More organizations and individuals than ever share a vested interest in the space sector’s success. Experts anticipate the global space economy – the resources used in space for activities – and research and development will continue to grow to a market of US$1.4 trillion by 2030 .

Commercialization policies opened U.S. space activities to the private sector. This has led to partnerships with companies, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and others, that are growing the space economy.

These companies have increasingly launched rockets and deployed satellites in recent years. This has increased the need for workers, both in manufacturing positions and specialized STEM roles. Additionally, private companies and universities are partnering to develop various technologies, such as landing systems for a U.S. return to the Moon.

Communities that host space industry centers have seen economic and educational benefits. For example, Huntsville, Alabama, home of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, has attracted an educated workforce with one of the highest rates of engineers per capita. Almost half of residents over the age of 25 in Huntsville have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

This rate starkly contrasts with the national average, where 37% have at least a bachelor’s degree , and the state’s 27% average . Additionally, Huntsville’s annual median household income is $8,000 higher than the Alabama average .

Since 1982, Huntsville has also hosted over 750,000 students at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center space camp. This camp educates students about science, technology, engineering and leadership to prepare them for a potential future STEM career.

• International collaboration

Space also provides an opportunity for the U.S. to collaborate with other countries.

For example, the U.S. works jointly with Italy to observe the impacts of air quality on human health. The James Webb Space Telescope, a result of partnerships between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, allows scientists to peer into previously unobserved parts of the cosmos . International collaboration has also established the Artemis Accords , a set of principles agreed to by 40 countries for peaceful, sustainable and transparent cooperation in space.

Getting the most out of space

Right now, U.S. space policymaking occurs at the federal and international level . And while people outside of the government can act as witnesses during congressional hearings or through advocacy groups , that involvement may not be enough to represent the wide spectrum of viewpoints and interests in space policy.

There are a few ways policymakers can receive input from different stakeholders. These might include inviting more experts from various policy areas to provide recommendations in congressional hearings, collaborating with advocacy coalitions to create sustainable policies, strengthening and expanding private-public partnerships, and setting a space agenda that emphasizes research and development.

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• space economy
• Artemis Accords

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My Journey To Space (Essay Sample)

My journey to space started one night while I was dreaming. It was as if my body was empty and that my consciousness was flying. I felt that my soul had left my body, and flew to the space, above my country, I then saw the earth that was happy, a sentient being, conscious and free. I perceived that the earth was a mother to all, she was caring and nurturing and loving, she would come to our rescue whenever we call.

As my body flew out, I saw that my body was sleeping amongst many other identities that inhabited the planet. I realized that I was only a small spec of existence amongst this vast number of sentient humans. I was only a part of a whole, as I watched my person getting smaller and smaller, as I now saw that there were many other souls who journeyed beyond their bodies at night and went to space to roll. These souls, like me, were conscious and adventurous, it was as if a higher self has taken over the “me” and now it granted the self an opportunity for adventure amongst the infinite expansion of space.

The advantage of journeying through space within a dream, is that one can travel beyond the speed of light. How? Well, travelling at the speed of light is the limit in the physical world, but in the dreamscape, the speed of thought transcends all. Through the power of consciousness and its instantaneous calibration of a reality, within the dream, travelling through space took no time at all. However, this dream had an undeniable and unforgettable sense of clarity and realness. It was another world, beyond the minds of normal men, those of whom were imprisoned in the limited physical life. The void of space has already affected my feelings, as it showed that the universe is a giant pulse of consciousness that made the setting for consciousness to discover itself. The space partnered with time, gave way for sentience and that all is a living manifestation of the vibratory source of the big bang.

This journey to space has given me some very profound insights and a mix of intangible emotions of excitement, awe, and wonder and unspeakable admiration. The infinity that permeated towards the distance suddenly became so much attainable through the power of the mind within the dreamscape. It was then that I realized that I had the power to go up close and personal to other heavenly bodies. I first went to mars, and it told me a story about its supposed past. That Mars was another dimension wherein life prospered and sentient beings roamed around the surface. It showed me a deep history of a people that were not able to save their own planet, by bringing their planet’s destruction upon their own hands. These people were so much indulged in their separation with each other that they started wars with each other. It was this that brought upon the planet’s desecration through their use of weapons of mass destruction. It was sad, yes, but for me, it was a very deep message of remembrance, that now, it is a very near possibility of humanity’s future. This dream of space has brought to my mind an unforgettable experience of the vastness of space, and the most urgent responsibility of humanity in its miniscule planet amongst many others in millions of other galaxies. It has reiterated the value of life and the appreciation of a chance to perceive a part of the infinite expanse of creation itself. I hope to dream more about space and have adventures on many other planes, so that I may bring its lessons and stories to this miniscule world of mine.

Shutting down the International Space Station: NASA's bold plans to land outpost in ocean

After two decades, nasa is laying the groundwork for plans to safely deorbit and land the international space station, the largest of its kind ever built, by 2030..

The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by spacefarers from countries around the world for the last two decades, but it's time among the cosmos won't last forever.

Even now, NASA is laying the groundwork for plans to safely deorbit and land the low-Earth orbit space station, the largest of its kind ever built.

Private companies have until Feb. 12 to submit design proposals for "a new or modified spacecraft using a large amount of propellant" that in the years ahead, will be tasked with docking with the space station and safely crashing it into an ocean. NASA plans to award the contract in June for the vehicle, which will be deployed upon the space station's impending retirement in 2030.

UFO sightings: Civilian pilots could report UAP to FAA under proposed bill

What is the International Space Station?

Designed and operated thanks to a global partnership of space agencies, the International Space Station has been home to crews of astronauts, cosmonauts and plenty of others since November 2000, NASA says .

More than 260 spacefarers from 20 countries have visited to the International Space Station, including 163 from the United States alone, according to the U.S. space agency.

Crew members who live and conduct scientific experiment aboard the space station orbit Earth 16 times a day. The orbital outpost is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window, according to NASA .

Since 1998, more than 260 spacewalks have been conducted at the International Space Station, including a rare all-female spacewalk in November .

In September, a U.S. military astronaut named Frank Rubio was stationed aboard the space outpost when he made history as the American with longest consecutive spaceflight . Rubio spent a U.S. record of 371 days in space after the capsule meant to ferry him back to Earth, a Russian Soyuz, sprang a coolant leak in 2022, which doubled his stay.

The current Expedition 70 crew began their stint in late-September and are scheduled to land in spring. While aboard the station, the seven astronauts and cosmonauts have been conducting a variety scientific experiments and studying an array of microgravity phenomena.

What is the timeline for ending the International Space Station?

Decommissioning the aging cosmic outpost is the shared responsibility of the five space agencies that have operated it since 1998: the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

All of those nations have committed to supporting the International Space Station operations through 2030 with the exception of Russia, which has agreed to keep going only until 2028, according to NASA .

How will NASA land the space station?

NASA examined several options for decommissioning the International Space Station, including disassembling it while in orbit, boosting it to a higher orbit and allowing it to decay naturally before randomly re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

Many of those options presented "significant logistical and financial challenges" for a space station as large as an American football field, NASA said.

Its modules and truss structure were not designed to be easily disassembled in space, while allowing for an unplanned atmospheric re-entry posed too much of a threat to populated areas. Further, objects that are retired to the safer high "graveyard" orbits are typically smaller satellites , not massive outposts, NASA said.

Such considerations were why the space agency decided that a controlled, targeted re-entry ending in a crash landing into a remote ocean was the safest route.

Whichever private aerospace company is selected by NASA will build a deorbiting craft capable of performing a "propulsive maneuver" to line up the re-entry path into the desired uninhabited waters.

Many of the space station's modules and hardware are expected to burn up, melt away or vaporize upon re-entry. The denser and heat-resistant components that may survive the plunge will splash down into the ocean, where they are expected to harmlessly sink to the ocean floor, according to NASA.

What comes after the ISS?

In the months and years ahead , the United States will shift its focus to commercial operations and contracted missions.

That includes funding and enabling private industry to develop commercially-owned-and-operated space stations, NASA says.

"It is NASA’s goal to be one of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit where in-orbit destinations as well as cargo and crew transportation, are available as services to the agency," NASA said in an explanation of its transition plan.

Partnering more often with private industry will hopefully free up NASA to focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions, including human missions to the moon and Mars.

Artemis moon mission delayed another year

As part of its ongoing Artemis program, the agency had  hopes of sending a group  of spacefarers on a 10-day trip circumnavigating the moon as early as November. However, the target date for Atemis II was pushed back last week to no earlier than 2025 "to allow teams to work through challenges associated with first-time developments, operations, and integration," NASA said in a statement.

The mission would pave the way for Artemis III, when another group of astronauts will venture to land on the lunar surface itself . That mission, which has experienced setbacks , was also delayed until no earlier than 2026.

The announcement came on the heels of the news that the first American attempt to land a commercial spacecraft on the lunar surface would likely be unsuccessful. NASA spent tens of millions of dollars for a spot for its scientific cargo on Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic's Peregrine spacecraft, which faltered on its journey to the moon when it encountered an issue with its propulsion system .

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

Covering the business and politics of space

Space Station astronauts to visit Marshall Center Oct. 30

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International Space Station Expedition Two crew members Jim Voss, a native of Opelika, Ala. and graduate of Auburn University, and Susan Helms will visit NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., Tuesday, Oct. 30. During Voss and Helms’ five-month watch, the Space Station’s joint airlock – Quest – was installed and the Destiny laboratory was outfitted with science equipment racks. Both Quest and Destiny were built in Huntsville by Boeing. Quest, a doorway to space, allows crew members to make spacewalks when a Shuttle isn’t docked to the Station. The Marshall Center also is responsible for managing Space Station science experiments.

During their visit with NASA and contractor employees, the crew will:

9:30 – 10 a.m. – Meet with news media

10 – 11 a.m. – Show a video and talk about their mission

11 -11:30 a.m. – Meet employees and sign autographs

Astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms

Marshall Center’s Morris Auditorium in Bldg. 4200

News media interested in covering the event should contact Judy Pettus of the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034 no later than Monday, Oct. 29. Media must report to Gate 1 at Memorial Parkway South, Martin Road exit. Vehicles are subject to security search at the gate. News media will need two photo identifications and proof of car insurance.

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50, 100, And 300 Words Essay on Space In English

Table of Contents

Introduction

Children are interested in space because it is a fascinating topic. It generates curiosity and interest among us when we hear about space missions or astronauts flying into space. In our minds, there are many questions. 

At takeoff, how intense is the acceleration for astronauts? When you are floating weightlessly in space, how does it feel? What is the sleeping environment like for astronauts? How do they eat? When viewed from space, how does Earth look? In this essay on space, you will find the answers to all of these questions. To gain a deeper understanding of space, students should read it.

50 Words Essay on Space

Space is the area outside the earth. Planets, meteors, stars, and other celestial objects can be found in space. Meteors are objects that fall from the sky. There is a lot of silence in space. If you scream loudly enough in space, no one will hear you.

Air does not exist in space! What a strange experience that would be! Yes, indeed! Basically, it’s just a vacuum. No sound waves can travel in this space and no sunlight can scatter in it. A black blanket can sometimes cover space.

There is some life in space. Stars and planets are separated by a vast distance. Gas and dust fill this gap. Celestial bodies also exist in other constellations. There are many of them, including our planet.

100 Words Essay on Space

The sound of your scream can’t be heard in space. The vacuum in space is caused by the lack of air. Vacuums do not permit the propagation of sound waves.

A 100 km radius around our planet marks the beginning of “outer space.”. Space appears as a black blanket dotted with stars due to the absence of air to scatter sunlight.

There is a common belief that space is empty. However, this is not true. Massive amounts of thinly spread gas and dust fill the vast gaps between stars and planets. A few hundred atoms or molecules per cubic meter can be found even in the most empty parts of space.

Radiation in space can also be dangerous to astronauts in many forms. Solar radiation is a major source of infrared and ultraviolet radiation. A high-energy X-ray, gamma ray, and cosmic ray particle can travel as fast as light if it comes from a distant star system.

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• 150, 300, And 500 Words Essay On Crime In English

300 Words Essay on Space

Our countrymen have always been fascinated by things related to space. It was only through imagination and stories that man could dream of traveling in space when it was absolutely impossible to do so.

Space Travel is Now Possible

Until the twentieth century, the man had significant success in space research, giving this dream a simple form.

India has grown so much in science in the 21st century that many mysteries of space have been solved by the country. Additionally, visiting the moon has become very easy now, which was the dream of many long ago. As a side note, human spaceflight began in 1957.

First Life in Space

‘Layaka’ was sent into space for the first time via this vehicle to explore how space affects animals.

A spacecraft named Explorer was launched by the United States of America on January 31, 1958, giving another title to the world of space.

An enormous magnetic field above the Earth was to be discovered through this vehicle, along with its effects on Earth as a whole.

First Passenger

Our space research history is remembered for the event of July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first Americans to set foot on the moon on this day.

Sitting on a spacecraft named ‘Apollo-11’, he reached the surface of the moon. A third passenger in this spacecraft was Michael Collins.

He said, “Everything is beautiful” when he first landed on the moon. With this, he became the first person in the world to land on the moon.

Conclusion,

It would have been impossible to have imagined that the era of space tourism would also come in the future following the dawn of the space age. The first space tourist in the world was India’s Dennis Tito in 2002.

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May 15, 2024

A Brand-New Spacecraft Will Visit the International Space Station Soon

Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser is set to make its inaugural trip to orbit to deliver supplies to the International Space Station

By Sarah Scoles

Sierra Space

With its perpetually upturned pectoral fins, and blunt nose, the Dream Chaser looks more like a killer whale than a spacecraft. But unlike an orca, the Dream Chaser will soon be going to orbit: it’s set to take food and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year when it travels to space for the first time.

The Dream Chaser’s trip to space will make it the latest commercial vehicle to visit the ISS as part of NASA’s “commercial resupply services” program. But leaders at Sierra Space, the company that built this finned craft, have visions that go beyond such deliveries: they hope that someday Dream Chaser will carry people to space and that it can act as a kind of ready-made space program for countries that don’t want to or don’t have the resources to reinvent these particular wheels. Beyond that, Sierra Space officials think Dream Chaser could deliver supplies or people to various places on Earth for the Department of Defense by going from point to point around the world at a faster clip than a typical plane.

But before any of that happens, Dream Chaser must make its maiden voyage, set for sometime later this year.

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NASA’s Space Shuttle was the original grocery deliverer and taxi service for the space station. As the shuttle retired in 2011, “we had to go start taking a look at a couple of avenues to support the space station,” says Phil Dempsey, ISS Transportation Integration Office manager. NASA turned to private corporations .

If companies could build space deliverers, NASA could simply buy their services instead of having to build and maintain its own vehicles. NASA’s first phase of contracts went to SpaceX and Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman). In the second phase, Sierra Space became the third company to win a contract. Sometime this year the Dream Chaser will be loaded onto a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla., whose runway it will land on upon return.

Northrop’s cargo craft is called Cygnus, and it looks like a tin can that grew aerodynamically ineffective wings. It goes up but does not come down, “destructively reentering” the atmosphere—to use NASA’s violent euphemism for the craft burning up as it flies through the air—which lets it dispose of the station’s trash after it leaves. SpaceX’s solution is the Dragon capsule, which bears more resemblance to the classic Apollo spacecraft of old—with a modern, minimalist twist—and does return safely to Earth in a splashdown, after which it is ready to be reused. The journeys of these two craft weren’t always smooth sailing. “Both of the initial providers had early launch failures,” Dempsey says. Perhaps Dream Chaser will become a dream “catcher,” with fewer difficulties.

Dream Chaser is a “lifting-body” spacecraft: it launches on a rocket but can land like an airplane on a runway, with its wide belly providing the lift that wings would on a conventional aircraft. It was initially intended for human occupants; the group had applied to take astronauts up to the ISS but didn’t win the contract. So when Sierra saw the option to send cargo, it decided to shoot for that star instead.

The company began modifying its people-pleasing design by taking out things that only humans need—such as windows and an abort system. It added the ability to carry up to 12,000 pounds of cargo total, with the addition of an attached capsule, and dispose of stuff on the way back down to Earth. Because Dream Chaser would ride to space in the five-meter fairing, or nose cone, of a rocket, the company redesigned the wings to fold up and be deployed in preparation for landing only once out of that claustrophobic space.

Dream Chaser is, in other words, a little less straightforward than Cygnus and Dragon. And because it lands on a runway, it can bring research home and hand off to scientists quickly—just half an hour after touchdown. During that touchdown, it will experience just 1.5 g ’s of acceleration, providing a softer landing than a typical splashdown.

Dream Chaser can also dump its cargo capsule to burn up in the atmosphere on the way back down, letting it and whatever’s inside crisp into nothingness. “It gives a mix of the capabilities that the other two providers have,” Dempsey says. That gives NASA the flexibility, he continues, to choose which cargo carrier is best suited to a particular mission. For instance, the agency might use Dragon for critical cargo that needs to come back to the planet, Cygnus to get a huge amount of cargo up and Dream Chaser for time-sensitive research.

Each Dream Chaser is designed to fly 15 times before needing to be retired, so between the model that’s complete—named Tenacity—and another on the production floor, 30 future missions are possible. The company is also committed to building a crewed version of the space plane and eventually taking astronauts up, says Angie Wise, Sierra Space’s chief safety officer and senior vice president of mission and quality assurance. That goal meshes with another wing of the company’s business, she adds, which is working with Blue Origin on a commercial space station called Orbital Reef. The reef dwellers will have to get there somehow .

Wise says Sierra Space is focused on making this first mission successful rather than getting overhyped about the future. But the company does have a loose plan with the United Nations, if funding is secured, to launch an uncrewed international mission. Although the details aren’t nailed down, the U.N.’s description says such a mission would carry “experiments, payloads, or satellites provided by institutions in the participating countries.” Sierra Space is also talking to other governments about potential “ free-flyer missions ,” where the plane would simply loiter in orbit. It could host microgravity experiments onboard or give small satellites a lift and then let them go.

Beyond those aims, though, Sierra Space is also looking to the Department of Defense, where it thinks Dream Chaser could be useful for things such as peering down at Earth or rush delivering supplies to troops in faraway parts of the planet. “We can land pretty much on any major commercial runway,” Wise says. That special kind of delivery involves what insiders call “point-to-point” rocket travel: shooting spacecraft from one spot on the globe to another via an arc that cuts suborbitally through space. Up there, the craft could go thousands of miles per hour, compared with an airplane’s hundreds, and then slice through the atmosphere above its intended destination.

There aren’t any operational contracts in this direction yet, but the defense sector is broadly interested in such capabilities, and Sierra Space has signed a research agreement with the U.S. Transportation Command to look into “timely global delivery of Department of Defense logistics and personnel,” according to a press release . The Air Force, in particular, has its eye on point-to-point delivery. In addition to Dream Chaser, SpaceX’s Starship and spacecraft from Blue Origin and Rocket Lab could be put to such uses.

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), whose goal is to better and more quickly bring commercial technology under the military umbrella, recently took proposals for a program it calls Novel Responsive Space Delivery . In this program, the unit is looking for “responsive and precise point-to-point delivery of cargo to, from, and through space,” DIU said in its solicitation. That means DIU wants the service to go from Earth to orbit, from space to a specific spot on Earth and within space between satellites. In the future, the winners of such a contract might take upgrade or repair parts to an ailing satellite or even rescue people in space, should the need arise.

But DIU is also looking to a future time when the DOD might store supplies in space, as the U.S. military has at caches across Earth’s surface for many years. Then it would be able to send them where they’re needed, as they’re needed, if the usual terrestrial supply lines were in jeopardy or a disaster called for rapid response. “There are certain commodities that we can preposition in orbit. Certain commodities kind of lend themselves to being okay sitting in a space vehicle for some duration,” says Austin Baker, deputy director for DIU’s space portfolio.

Whether Dream Chaser will ever perform tasks like that is currently up in the air as it gets ready for its first launch. Right now it’s busy going through the rocket ringer, being tested to see how it holds up to conditions of launch and space itself. Sierra Space is “just checking out everything works on the ground before we ever launch it,” Wise says—to give it the best chance of coming back to the ground safely.

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

SpaceX launches 4 private citizens to the space station

It’s the second mission chartered by Axiom Space to take private citizens to the International Space Station

SpaceX on Sunday launched a crew of private astronauts, including two representing Saudi Arabia, in a mission to the International Space Station that was chartered by another private space company, Axiom Space.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:37 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the second group of private citizens to fly with Axiom to the space station and offering a reminder of how quickly human space flight is evolving from the days when only national governments had the wherewithal to train and launch people into space.

The crew is expected to arrive at the space station at about 9:30 a.m. Eastern Monday for an eight-day stay, performing research and science experiments. Axiom has not said how much the mission cost, but members of the previous mission paid as much as $55 million each.

Axiom conducted the training for this flight and commissioned the SpaceX launch. Axiom’s long-term goal is to build its own space station in low Earth orbit and continue to send people from all over the world to it. It also holds a contract from NASA to build the spacesuits that astronauts will wear on the surface of the moon as part of the space agency’s Artemis program.

Axiom’s first mission, in 2022 , to the space station included three wealthy business executives who were accompanied by Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who serves as Axiom’s chief astronaut.

Sunday’s Axiom-2 mission is being led by Peggy Whitson , a decorated NASA astronaut who has completed 10 spacewalks and spent 665 days in space, more than any other American . She is now Axiom’s director of human spaceflight and would build on her impressive legacy with her fourth spaceflight mission.

She is joined by Rayyanah Barnawi, a biomedical researcher who specializes in stem-cell research, who would become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to go to space. Ali Alqarni is also representing Saudi Arabia. A former member of the Saudi air force, he is an accomplished pilot who has flown multiple aircraft.

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John Shoffner, an American businessman who founded a fiber-optic cable company, is serving as the pilot on the mission. He’s a lifelong space enthusiast who got his pilot’s license when he was 17. Now, he flies in air shows and races sports cars. “I feel like I’ve been preparing for this my entire life,” he said during a news conference last week.

The Axiom crew is flying on SpaceX’s “Freedom” spacecraft, which has also been used by NASA to ferry its astronauts to the space station.

For years, NASA did not allow private citizens to visit the space station, though Russia did. NASA changed its policy in 2019 in a nod to the growing commercial space sector, which the space agency now relies on for a number of crucial missions, including flying its own astronauts to the ISS.

“These missions are very important to us at NASA as we try to open up space, and low Earth orbit especially, to a greater cross section of society,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during a news conference before the flight. “There’s a lot to be done there. And we think the economy in low Earth orbit will continue to expand and someday NASA will just be a participant in that economy, buying services from private industry in low Earth orbit as NASA goes out and explores on the cutting edge.”

In 2021, SpaceX flew four private citizens to orbit in its Dragon spacecraft. That group, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, spent three days circling the globe in a mission called Inspiration4 that raised more than $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Since then, Isaacman has commissioned three more flights, including one scheduled for later this year that will feature a spacewalk. Isaacman also intends to fly on the first crewed mission of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket , which NASA intends to use to land its astronauts on the moon.

“We really feel like we’re prepared to go,” Whitson said. The Axiom-2 mission is “a precursor for where we’re headed.” The company plans to launch its first space station module in 2025. That module would be attached to the ISS and would help the company get more people to space.

Houston, we have an encore: ISS virtual reality experience 'The Infinite' returns

In addition to the space station VR experience, visitors to "Space Explorers: THE INFINITE" can now get a front row view of the launch of NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the moon.

What do you do for an encore after you have virtually transported thousands of Houstonians to the International Space Station? If you are Felix & Paul Studios, you invite them back to fly to the moon . "Space Explorers: THE INFINITE," which three years ago made its U.S. premiere in Houston, is now back in Space City for a limited second run. The interactive and immersive experience is again inviting the public to explore a virtual, life-size replica of the International Space Station (ISS), letting them almost feel what it is like to be an astronaut. A spin-off of " Space Explorers: The ISS Experience ," an Emmy-award winning series produced by Felix & Paul in collaboration with TIME Studios, "THE INFINITE" combines footage from the largest production ever filmed in space — more than 200 hours of 3D 360 cinematic virtual reality footage shot over the course of nearly three years — together with a virtual model of the space station that encourages visitors to physically roam the layout of the orbital outpost while exploring 360-degree vignettes in many of its modules.

Related: Experience the Overview Effect with the Felix & Paul VR trilogy 'Space Explorers: Blue Marble'

"Everybody I have met told me, 'I'm looking forward to seeing it again, because every time I come here, it's a different experience,'" Félix Lajeunesse, co-founder and chief creative officer of Felix & Paul Studios and creative director of 'Space Explorers: THE INFINITE,' said in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "There are 60 virtual reality scenes that you can activate when you visit the space station, both inside and outside of the ISS. Generally with one visit, you have time to see 12. So, it means that when you come a second time or third time or a fourth time or even the fifth time, it's going to be a different experience," he said.

In its first incarnation, "THE INFINITE" concluded the virtual reality part of the experience with the chance to go outside the space station and witness astronauts on a spacewalk . The spectacular scene was made possible by the first-ever use of a VR camera outside of the ISS, mounted on the station's primary robotic arm. That was followed by a multi-room art installation by visual and sound artist Ryoji Ikeda that focused on the aesthetics of mathematic formulas.

Now, visitors go even farther into space by reliving the 2022 launch of NASA's Artemis 1 mission to the moon . The spacewalk and part of Ikeda's work is still there, but the experience concludes with the inaugural liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, which was a major milestone toward NASA returning astronauts to the lunar surface, including landing the first woman, first person of color and the first non-American astronaut at the moon's south pole. Felix & Paul filmed the Artemis 1 launch and, in a first, streamed it live in 360 degrees to full-dome theaters, planetariums and personal VR headsets. The same footage, captured by cameras positioned near the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been adapted as the finale to "THE INFINITE," providing a second, unprecedented display. Since premiering in Montreal and then Houston, "THE INFINITE" has been staged in Tacoma, Washington; Richmond, California; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Denver, Colorado. Now back in Houston, the "THE INFINITE" is scheduled to run through at least the end of June. Upcoming cities include West Palm Beach, Florida, opening on June 4 and Charlotte, North Carolina, beginning on Sept. 20.

Related: NASA's Artemis program: Everything you need to know

— Why a VR headset on the ISS 'really makes a difference' for astronaut exercise

—   Best VR space experiences

 —  This International Space Station VR experience lets you explore the ISS… and it’s as amazing as it sounds

"Of all the places where we have been, Houston is where we feel like is the most natural fit for this show," said Lajeunesse. "It took two and a half years to capture all of the content in space, working with hundreds of people who were based here in Houston at Johnson Space Center . And the astronauts, obviously, who were involved in creating the show were also based here and their families were here." "So when we bring the experience here to Houston, it feels like we are bringing the experience home," he told collectSPACE. " Space Explorers: THE INFINITE " is open Thursday through Sunday at Silver Street Studios at Sawyer Yards in Houston. Tickets run $35 for adults, with discounts available for children, seniors, students and members of the military. There are also group and family rates available.

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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com , an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.

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Introduction and analysis, space station research integration office.

Scientific research has been conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since its early years of assembly. Preliminary investigations began as new systems were incorporated, and gradually the ISS grew into a fully utilized microgravity laboratory. Today, the well-established and diverse research on ISS serves to test physical and biological phenomena, examine human adaptation and recovery, study the health of our planet, explore the universe, and develop new technologies. The ISS is now a thriving microcosm of science that represents hundreds of research areas dedicated to making groundbreaking discoveries for the advancement of humanity. Figure 1 shows the development of ISS research fields from the beginning of ISS to the end of fiscal year 2022. In addition, over 20 years of ISS scientific operations continues to inspire thousands of students to pursue STEM careers and facilitates the commercialization of low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Extensive international collaboration in the unique environment of LEO as well as procedural improvements to assist researchers in the collection of data from the ISS have produced promising results in the areas of protein crystal growth, tissue regeneration, vaccine and drug development, 3D printing, and fiber optics, among many others. In this year’s edition of the Annual Highlights of Results, we report findings from a wide range of topics in biotechnology, physics, human research, Earth and space science, and technology development – including investigations about human retinal cells, bacterial resistance, black hole detection, space anemia, brain health, Bose-Einstein condensates, particle self-assembly, RNA extraction technology, and more. The findings highlighted here represent only a sample of the work ISS has contributed to society during the past 12 months.

As of Oct. 1, 2022, we have identified a total of 3,679 publications associated with ISS research since 1998 (roughly a 12% increase since last year). Of the 414 articles collected during the 2021-22 fiscal year, 381 appeared in peer-reviewed journals, 30 in conference proceedings, and 3 in gray literature such as books, magazines, or patents. Publications are also categorized based on how authors obtained their results. There were 262 publications that reported direct implementation of the science aboard station (i.e., ISS results), 69 that reported development of the payload prior to operation on the ISS (i.e., Flight Preparation), and 83 that emerged as follow-ups to station science (i.e., Derived). Figure 2 shows a stacked chart of these tallies. ISS publications collected over the years constitute the work of more than 6000 researchers around the world.

The scientific results presented in this Annual Highlights of Results broadly represent the research activities of all the space agencies – National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS (ROSCOSMOS), the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), ESA (European Space Agency), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). In addition, a complete list of collected publications in FY-22 is included. This list identifies 131 articles published prior to Oct. 1, 2021.

A publicly accessible database of ISS investigations and publications can be found through the Space Station Research Explorer (SSRE) , and all editions of the Annual Highlights of Results can be found through the Space Station Research Results Library .

MEASURING SPACE STATION IMPACTS

The significant impact of sustained international multidisciplinary research in microgravity can be observed through the findings published in world- class scientific journals that adhere to a rigorous scientific peer-review process.

Bibliometric analyses measure the impact of space station research by quantifying and visualizing networks of journals, citations, subject areas, and collaboration between authors, countries, or organizations 1 . Using bibliometrics, a broad range of challenges in research management and research evaluation can be addressed. The network visualizations, stacked charts, and line graphs provided in this introduction demonstrate the growth and impact of ISS research over time.

With the assistance of Clarivate Analytics, a global database that collects publication and journal information for annual journal ranking and metrics, we identified the top science produced by ISS researchers. One parameter, the journal’s Eigenfactor score 2 , identifies the importance of each journal based on readership and influence, including the different citation standards of each discipline.

From Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022, 89 ISS publications appeared in Top 100 journals, according to Eigenfactor rankings. Of the 89 top-tier publications, 12 were reported in Top 10 journals (see Table 1). Compared to last year’s counts, an additional 15 publications were reported in Top 100 journals.

The completion of ISS investigations has contributed to the growth of top-tier publications seen today. As shown in Figure 3, many more ISS studies have been published in high-ranking journals recently compared to previous years. From our earliest record of top- tier ISS science in 2003* to Oct. 1, 2022, there have been 488 articles published in Top 100 journals, with a large quantity of publications produced by researchers in the Earth and Space Sciences.

In addition to the research diversity and the top-tier results obtained from ISS, a new comparison to global and US standards of category-normalized citation impact shows that the influence of ISS on world science has been much greater since 2010. The authority of ISS research was particularly prominent in 2019, and it continues to permeate the scientific community to date. Figure 4 illustrates this important comparison.

The global impact of ISS science may be explained in part by the types of journals in which ISS researchers publish. Recently, more microgravity research has been published in open-access journals. Accessibility to the latest research findings has led to more reads and citations since 2015, as shown in Figure 5. In addition, journals that are consistently ranked highly according to their Eigenfactor score (Nature, Scientific Reports, PLOS One, PNAS, and Science) publish scientific articles that accrue up to 500 citations from other researchers. As shown in Figure 6, the ISS investigations Fungal Pathogenesis, RNA Interference (CERISE), Microbial Drug Resistance, and Mice Drawer System (which published articles in years prior to the citation peak in 2013), led the way in ISS research impact through numerous citations that year. In 2019, the ISS investigations Biological Rhythms, JAXA PCG, Otolith, Biomolecule Sequencer, Ice Crystal, Neurospat, and Wearable Monitoring received more attention.

EVOLUTION OF SPACE STATION RESULTS

The archive of ISS investigations went online in 2004. Since that time, the Research Results team has implemented changes in how investigations are tracked. The team has split and added new research disciplines as more investigations become active, and many fields have been redefined since the roll out of the archive. Currently, the following publication types are included in the Program Science Toolbox:

• ISS Flight Preparation Results – publications about the development work performed for the investigation, facility, or project prior to operation on the ISS.
• ISS Results – publications that provide information about the performance and results of the investigation, facility, or project as a direct implementation on ISS or on a vehicle to ISS.
• Derived Results – publications that use data from an investigation that operated on ISS, but the authors of the article are not members of the original investigation team. Derived Results articles have emerged as a direct outcome of the open-source data initiative, which gives access to raw data for new researchers to analyze and publish innovative results, expanding global knowledge and scientific benefits.
• Patents – applications filed based on the performance and results of the investigation, facility, or project on ISS, or on a vehicle to ISS.
• Related – publications that lead to the development of the investigation, facility, or project.

LINKING SPACE STATION BENEFITS

ISS research results lead to benefits for human exploration of space, benefits to humanity, and the advancement of scientific discovery. This year’s Annual Highlights of Results from the International Space Station includes descriptions of just a few of the results that were published from across the ISS partnership during the past year.

• ISS investigation results have yielded updated insights into how to live and work more effectively in space by addressing such topics as understanding radiation effects on crew health, combating bone and muscle loss, improving designs of systems that handle fluids in microgravity, and determining how to maintain environmental control efficiently.
• Results from the ISS provide new contributions to the body of scientific knowledge in the physical sciences, life sciences, and Earth and space sciences to advance scientific discoveries in multi-disciplinary ways.
• ISS science results have Earth-based applications, including understanding our climate, contributing to the treatment of disease, improving existing materials, and inspiring the future generation of scientists, clinicians, technologists, engineers, mathematicians, artists, and explorers.
• Van Eck NJ, Waltman L. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics. 2010; 84(2):523- 538. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3 .
• West JD, Bergstrom TC, Bergstrom CT. The Eigenfactor Metrics™: A Network approach to assessing scholarly journals. College and Research Libraries. 2010;71(3). DOI: 10.5860/0710236 .

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SpaceX launches 4 private citizens, including 2 Saudis, on commercial flight to space station

By William Harwood

Updated on: May 21, 2023 / 7:27 PM EDT / CBS News

A legendary astronaut, two Saudis and a wealthy adventurer blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Sunday for a trip to the International Space Station, the second " private astronaut mission " aimed at opening the high frontier to commercial development.

The nine Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9's first stage roared to life at 5:37 p.m. EDT, quickly throttled up to 1.7 million pounds of thrust and smoothly pushed the rocket away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

Arcing away on a northeasterly trajectory, the slender rocket put on a spectacular weekend sky show, thrilling thousands of area residents and tourists lining nearby roads and beaches before disappearing into a high deck of clouds.

Monitoring the automated ascent from their seats in the Crew Dragon "Freedom" capsule were commander Peggy Whitson and co-pilot John Shoffner, flanked on the left and right by first-time Saudi fliers Ali Alqarni, a veteran F-16 fighter pilot, and biomedical researcher Rayyanah Barnawi.

Whitson, now retired from NASA, is America's most experienced astronaut, with 665 days in space and 10 spacewalks to her credit during three earlier missions. Shoffner, a retired fiber optics entrepreneur, is a veteran private pilot, high-performance race car driver and skydiver.

Shoffner paid Axiom an undisclosed amount for his seat aboard the Crew Dragon while the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covered the costs of its two astronauts. Whitson, now director of human spaceflight for Axiom Space, flew as part of the company charter.

"I wanted to be able to fly in space again," Whitson said after her final NASA mission, "but the realistic part of Peggy said, no, you're not likely to be able to. And so, it's just a thrill and a half to have this opportunity to fly for Axiom."

After boosting the rocket out of the thick lower atmosphere, the reusable first stage, making its maiden flight, fell away and headed for landing back at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while the Falcon 9's second stage continued the push to orbit.

In past Crew Dragon flights, booster stages landed on offshore barges and were towed back to shore for refurbishment and reuse. But past experience showed actual performance was better than expected, leaving enough propellant on board to reverse course and return to the launch site. Heralded by twin sonic booms, the Ax-2 first stage dropped out of the clouds and settled to a picture perfect touchdown eight minutes after liftoff.

One minute later, the Crew Dragon capsule slipped into orbit and separated from the Falcon 9 second stage.

"Thanks for putting your trust in the Falcon 9 team, hope you enjoyed the ride to space," radioed SpaceX chief engineer Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's former director of spaceflight operations. "Have a great trip on Dragon. Welcome home to zero G, Peggy."

"It's good to be here," Whitson replied from orbit. "It was a phenomenal ride!"

If all goes well, the crew will monitor an automated rendezvous with the space station, catching up with the lab complex Monday morning and moving in for docking at the forward Harmony module's space-facing port at 9:16 a.m.

They'll be welcomed aboard by Expedition 69 commander Sergey Prokopyev and his two Soyuz MS-23 crewmates, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, along with NASA Crew 6 fliers Steve Bowen, Woody Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi.

Alneyadi, the second UAE flier to reach space, is the first Arab astronaut to serve as a long-duration crew member aboard the ISS. With the arrival of Alqarni and Barnawi, three of the station's 11 crew members will represent the Middle East.

"I think it is a great opportunity that the three of us can be aboard the International Space Station," Alqarni said. "(That) will hold a big message that we can be sending out to inspire people. And that means for us, as the Arab world, we are holding hands, we are working together for the betterment of humanity."

The Ax-2 flight is the second private astronaut mission, or PAM, to the International Space Station chartered by Axiom. NASA plans to sanction up to two PAM missions each year to encourage private-sector development in low-Earth orbit.

Axiom Space is using the missions to gain the expertise needed to begin building a stand-alone commercial space station that can be used by government and private-sector astronauts and researchers after the International Space Station is retired at the end of the decade.

In the near term, the missions also provide a way for serious, technically competent private citizens and governments without access to space to visit the ISS for research and public outreach — goals encouraged by NASA.

Alqarni and Barnawi are the second and third Saudis to fly in space after Sultan Salman Al-Saud flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1985. They will be the first Saudis to visit the space station and Barnawi will become the first Saudi woman to fly in space.

During an eight-day stay, Whitson, Shoffner, Alqarni and Barnawi plan to carry out 20 research projects, 14 of them developed by Saudi scientists, that range from human physiology, cell biology and technology development.

"Research has been my passion in life," Barnawi said at a pre-launch news conference. "This is a great opportunity for me to represent the country, to represent their dreams. ... This is a dream come true for everyone."

Along with a full slate of experiments, the crew will participate in live broadcasts to school kids across Saudi Arabia as part of a STEM initiative to build interest in science and technology.

"This is a huge, huge event in Saudi Arabia," said Derek Hassmann, Axiom chief of mission integration and operations. "During the time they're docked to ISS, there is a whole series of media events scheduled.

"One of the focuses of many of these events is interacting with school-aged children in Saudi Arabia. And that was one of the reasons, just the timing of the school year, that we're very interested in getting this flight done in May. They have a whole series of post-flight events planned as well."

Barnawi said, "We are here as STEM educators for the kids to be (attracted) to math and science, technology, to know that they can do more."

Whitson and her crewmates plan to undock from the station on May 30. After a fiery plunge back into the lower atmosphere, the Crew Dragon will make a parachute descent to splashdown off the coast of Florida where SpaceX recovery crews will be standing by.

"I'm honored to be heading back to the ISS for the fourth time, leading this talented Ax-2 crew on their first mission," Whitson said in an Axiom statement. "This is a strong and cohesive team determined to conduct meaningful scientific research in space and inspire a new generation about the benefits of microgravity."

• International Space Station

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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Dream Chaser Spaceplane Prepped for ISS Mission After Arrival in Florida

S ierra Space’s state-of-the-art Dream Chaser spacecraft, known as Tenacity, has found its way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in sunny Florida, gearing up for a monumental visit to the International Space Station. This uncrewed spaceplane is a centerpiece in NASA’s plan to fortify commercial resupply missions in low Earth orbit. 

Tenacity reached Kennedy on the 18th of May, safe within a temperature-controlled case. This delivery closely followed that of its Shooting Star cargo module on May 11. Before touchdown in Florida, both the spaceplane and the cargo module faced vigorous vibration surveys at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. Clamped onto the most formidable spacecraft shaker apparatus, they simulated the tumult of both lift-off and Earth re-entry. The pair also spent time in NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Facility, weathering the extremes of space-like pressures and temperatures ranging from the icy -150 to a scalding 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Post-arrival, Dream Chaser Tenacity was swiftly relocated to the spacious high bay of the Space Systems Processing Facility for the final leg of testing and preparation before its mission. With a launch window slated for late this year, Tenacity is prepped to shoot for the stars aboard a ULA Vulcan rocket, lifting off from the renowned Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with 7,800 pounds of vital cargo for ISS crewmembers. 

The winding-up of remaining prep work at Kennedy involves a combo of acoustic and electromagnetic interference scrutiny, coupled with the completion of the thermal protection system and the final payload touches. This chiseled lifting body spaceplane, extending 30 feet in length and 15 feet in width, is distinct in its winged architecture, enabling a gentle runway landing akin to the fondly remembered space shuttles.

Contracted for a minimum of seven cargo ventures to the ISS, Dream Chaser and its Shooting Star module represent an evolutionary step in resupply service experience and design. While Tenacity proudly reuses its chassis, Shooting Star has a more pyrotechnic end, incinerating upon atmospheric re-entry and neatly taking out the trash totaling up to 8,500 pounds. Future missions can last up to 75 days, delivering up to 11,500 pounds of cargo. 

This pioneering Dream Chaser flight entails a thorough in-orbit verification by NASA and Sierra Space to greenlight its use for upcoming supply missions. The vehicle system will display its prowess in attitude modulation, translational movements, and emergency evasive capabilities before station astronauts employ the Canadarm2 to secure the spacecraft and welcome it aboard. After a stay of roughly 45 days, the spaceplane will enact its departure, eventually setting down at the Kennedy Launch and Landing Facility. Therein, Sierra Space engineers will undertake post-mortem inspections and get Tenacity mission-ready once more. 

For the latest scoop on NASA’s commercial resupply operations, be sure to visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/commercial-resupply/

FAQ Section

What is dream chaser.

Dream Chaser is a lifting body design spaceplane developed by Sierra Space, intended to transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit.

When did Dream Chaser Tenacity arrive at Kennedy Space Center?

The Dream Chaser Tenacity arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 18.

What is the Shooting Star module?

The Shooting Star module is a 15-foot add-on to the Dream Chaser spaceplane, designed to carry additional cargo. It can hold up to 7,000 pounds internally and also offers external payload mounts.

How many missions will Dream Chaser perform?

Dream Chaser is contracted to perform at least seven cargo missions to the International Space Station.

Can Dream Chaser be reused?

Yes, Dream Chaser is designed to be reusable, significantly enhancing the efficiency of each mission.

The Dream Chaser spaceplane, Tenacity, is poised to begin a new chapter in space resupply missions with its upcoming journey to the International Space Station. Boasting game-changing technology and design, this spacecraft encapsulates the drive for advancement in commercial space ventures. In concert with NASA, Sierra Space promises to not only deliver essentials but also pave the way for future exploration. As Tenacity goes through the final phases of its launch preparation, the space industry eagerly awaits the unfolding of this revolutionary mission.

2FM in crisis as station loses fourth star in a month- so why are so many leaving RTÉ?

In the space of less than a month, the national broadcaster RTÉ 2FM has lost the vast majority of its daytime presenters.

It's unprecedented- never before have so many household names walked out on their contracts with RTÉ- what was once viewed as a job for life in the industry. So, just what is going on at the station?

It all started with Doireann Garrihy's announcement at the start of May that she would be hanging up her mic, leaving co-hosts Carl Mullan and Donncha O'Callaghan without their semi-sensible wrangler.

Doireann said that she was leaving to grow her own successful podcast that has secured her very impressive sponsorships with huge brands. Just last summer, and during her tenure at RTE, Horse Racing Ireland was just one sponsor that revealed it had paid her €27,000 to promote the sport- this in addition to the salary she was receiving for hosting the breakfast show.

She had been at the helm of breakfast since her early days with Eoghan McDermott in 2019. Her announcement was a bit of a surprise for many- particularly given the fact that questions weren't even being raised about her future and more people were wondering about mid-morning star Jen Zamparelli, who had been missing from her show for weeks at that point.

Jen had taken a break for a family holiday around the mid-term to enjoy time with her children Florence and Enzo and husband Lau. But once mid-term was over, there was no sign of Jen making her comeback despite furious denials from 2FM boss Dan Healy that she was planning to leave.

Then on Tuesday, we were once again distracted by the semi-surprise that The 2 Johnnies would be leaving their successful drive-time show.

The two stars arrived at 2FM in a blaze of glory in February 2022 off the back of their ultra-successful podcast. They were subsequently taken off air within a week , finding out that what you say on a podcast simply doesn't wash on the national broadcaster.

However, they were defended by radio bosses and were brought back on air to much commercial success for the station, with sponsors aplenty and a loyal audience.

The pair have a huge upcoming tour of the US and Australia in the calendar and it's thought that they had 'assumed' that they'd be released from their show for a few months to make the dates.

But once RTÉ bosses- who are now under pressure to keep a tight reign on their presenters' external earnings- declined their request for absence, well, the writing was on the wall.

You see, in the wake of the payments scandal last summer, transparency has never been quite so exaggerated in the national broadcaster.

Indeed, Doireann was made an example of only a few short months ago for eating porridge in the studio as part of a paid sponsorship with a brand- something that no one would have batted an eyelid at only weeks earlier.

She was far from the only star to be reprimanded for letting their external sponsorship deals creep into their RTÉ life, with the likes of Lottie Ryan and Marty Morrissey also falling foul of rules that weren't really policed previously.

With all this to consider, it's easy to see why Johnny B and Johnny Smacks may have taken a look at their careers as a whole and realised that radio was simply not where the big bucks were to be made.

Who could blame them too; the pair were plucked out of the podcast space where literally anything goes and suddenly had to be mindful of rules and regulations like never before.

In the past, the pair had made stand-alone TV documentaries for the station that were hugely successful, but once they were on the payroll as hosts, their debut TV series last autumn just didn't work. Critics panned their efforts to marry their comedic styles with RTÉ values.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jennifer Zamparelli (@jenzamparelli)

As for Jen... Well, the only surprise is that she was the third presenter to leave within a week.

The mum-of-two issued a sweet statement which was no doubt heartfelt, paying tribute to her colleagues who have become friends over the last 10 years along with a picture album of some of her happy memories on air.

She started out with Bernard O'Shea and Keith Walsh on Breakfast Republic before taking over the mic on her own show when Ryan Tubridy left 2FM for Radio One.

In recent months, her former co-host Keith has become extremely vocal and is one of just a number of voices who have come out against the so-called 'bogus self-employed contracts' that he alleges he and hundreds of others had been ruled by during their time with the broadcaster.

While Jen has never spoken out about her own circumstances or agreement with RTÉ, with plenty of other external projects going on, it's fair to assume her obligations towards RTÉ were also a huge consideration going forward.

As things stand now, only Tracy Clifford remains the untouchable on the 2FM daytime schedule.

Names are already being touted for new shows including the possible introduction of Baz Ashmawy, Dancing With The Stars judge Arthur Gourounlian, his husband Brian Dowling, and his radio wife Suzanne Kane from 98FM, while the likes of Laura Fox look likely to get a promotion from weekends to midweek.

However, nothing is certain save to say 2FM bosses Dan Healy and Paul Russell must be in crisis mode.

Even former station star Gareth O'Callaghan can't help but wonder: 'Four high profile daytime DJs will leave RTÉ 2FM at the end of the month. One has to wonder what's going on in there?'

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