International Space Station – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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International Space Station The International Space Station, as seen from Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 2011. ISS insignia Station statistics COSPAR ID 1998-067A Call sign Alpha Crew Fully crewed 6 Currently aboard 6 (Expedition 38) Launch 19982020 Launch pad Baikonur 1/5 and 81/23 Kennedy LC-39 Mass approximately 450,000kg (990,000lb) Length 72.8m (239ft) Width 108.5m (356ft) Height c. 20m (c. 66ft) nadirzenith, arrays forwardaft (27 November 2009)[dated info] Pressurised volume 837m3 (29,600cuft) (21 March 2011) Atmospheric pressure 101.3kPa (29.91inHg, 1 atm) Perigee 414km (257mi) AMSL[1] Apogee 421km (262mi) AMSL[1] Orbital inclination 51.65degrees[1] Average speed 7.66 kilometres per second (27,600km/h; 17,100mph)[1] Orbital period 92.92minutes[1] Orbit epoch 14 December 2013[1] Days in orbit 5509 (20 December) Days occupied 4796 (20 December) Number of orbits 86,263[1] Orbital decay 2km/month Statistics as of 9 March 2011 (unless noted otherwise) References: [1][2][3][4][5][6] Configuration Station elements as of December 2011[update], but missing Pirs (exploded view)

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, it follows the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations, and Skylab from the U.S. The ISS is a modular structure whose first component was launched in 1998.[7] Now the largest artificial body in orbit, it can often be seen at the appropriate time with the naked eye from Earth.[8] The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components. ISS components have been launched by American Space Shuttles as well as Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets.[9] Budget constraints led to the merger of three space station projects with the Japanese Kib module and Canadian robotics. In 1993 the partially built components for a Soviet/Russian space station Mir-2, the proposed American Freedom, and the proposed European Columbus merged into a single multinational programme.[9] The ISS is arguably the most expensive single item ever constructed.[10]

The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.[11][12][13] The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.[14]

Since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000, the station has been continuously occupied for 700113000000000000013years and 700148000000000000048days, the longest continuous human presence in space. (In 2010, the station surpassed the previous record of almost 10 years (or 3,634 days) held by Mir.) The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: Soyuz, Progress, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, the H-II Transfer Vehicle,[15]Dragon, and Cygnus. It has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations.[16]

The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA, Roskosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA.[15][17] The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.[18] The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330km (205mi) and 435km (270mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft. It completes 15.50orbits per day.[19] The ISS is funded until 2020, and may operate until 2028.[20][21][22] The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos (RKA) has proposed using the ISS to commission modules for a new space station, called OPSEK, before the remainder of the ISS is deorbited.

According to the original Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Rosaviakosmos, the International Space Station was intended to be a laboratory, observatory and factory in space. It was also planned to provide transportation, maintenance, and act as a staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids.[23] In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic[24] and educational purposes.[25]

The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research that cannot be performed in any other way. While small unmanned spacecraft can provide platforms for zero gravity and exposure to space, space stations offer a long term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers over periods that exceed the capabilities of manned spacecraft.[16][26]

The Station simplifies individual experiments by eliminating the need for separate rocket launches and research staff. The primary fields of research include Astrobiology, astronomy, human research including space medicine and life sciences, physical sciences, materials science, space weather and weather on Earth (meteorology).[11][12][13][27][28] Scientists on Earth have access to the crew's data and can modify experiments or launch new ones, benefits generally unavailable on unmanned spacecraft.[26] Crews fly expeditions of several months duration, providing approximately 160 man-hours a week of labour with a crew of 6.[11][29]

Kib is intended to accelerate Japan's progress in science and technology, gain new knowledge and apply it to such fields as industry and medicine.[30]

In order to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe, engineers and scientists from all over the world built the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which NASA compares to the Hubble telescope, and says could not be accommodated on a free flying satellite platform due in part to its power requirements and data bandwidth needs.[31][32] On 3 April 2013, NASA scientists reported that hints of dark matter may have been detected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.[33][34][35][36][37][38] According to the scientists, "The first results from the space-borne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer confirm an unexplained excess of high-energy positrons in Earth-bound cosmic rays."

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International Space Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Space station – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew, which is designed to remain in space (most commonly in low Earth orbit) for an extended period of time and for other spacecraft to dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by lack of major propulsion or landing systems. Instead, other vehicles transport people and cargo to and from the station. As of November 2012[update] two space stations are in orbit: the International Space Station, which is permanently manned, and China's Tiangong 1 (which successfully launched on September 29, 2011, after its launch was delayed from August), which is unmanned most of the time.[1][2] Previous stations include the Almaz and Salyut series, Skylab and most recently Mir.

Today's space stations are research platforms, used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body as well as to provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles. All space stations to date have been designed with the intention of rotating multiple crews, with each crew member staying aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year. Since the ill-fated flight of Soyuz 11 to Salyut 1, all manned spaceflight duration records have been set aboard space stations. The duration record for a single spaceflight is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995. As of 2013[update], three astronauts have completed single missions of over a year, all aboard Mir.

Space stations have also been used for both military and civilian purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977.[3]

Space stations have been envisaged since at least as early as 1869 when Edward Everett Hale wrote "The Brick Moon".[4] The first to give serious consideration to space stations were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the early 20th century and Hermann Oberth about two decades later.[4] In 1929 Herman Potonik's The Problem of Space Travel was published, the first to envision a "rotating wheel" space station to create artificial gravity.

During the Second World War, German scientists researched the theoretical concept of an orbital weapon based on a space station. Pursuing Oberth's idea of a space-based weapon, the so-called "sun gun" was a concept of a space station orbiting Earth at a height of 5,100 miles (8,200km), with a weapon that was to utilize the sun's energy.[5]

In 1951, in Collier's weekly, Wernher von Braun published his design for a wheel-shaped space station, which referenced the "rotating wheel" idea first proclaimed Potonik however these concepts would never leave the concept stage during the 20th century.[4]

During the same time as von Braun pursued Potonik's ideas, the Soviet design bureaus chiefly Vladimir Chelomey's OKB-52 were pursuing Tsiolkovsky's ideas for space stations. The work by OKB-52 would lead to the Almaz programme and (together with OKB-1) to the first space station: Salyut 1. The developed hardware laid the ground for the Salyut and Mir space stations, and is even today a considerable part of the ISS space station.

The first space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. Like all the early space stations, it was "monolithic", intended to be constructed and launched in one piece, and then manned by a crew later. As such, monolithic stations generally contained all their supplies and experimental equipment when launched, and were considered "expended", and then abandoned, when these were used up.

The earlier Soviet stations were all designated "Salyut", but among these there were two distinct types: civilian and military. The military stations, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, and Salyut 5, were also known as Almaz stations.

The civilian stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 were built with two docking ports, which allowed a second crew to visit, bringing a new spacecraft with them; the Soyuz ferry could spend 90 days in space, after which point it needed to be replaced by a fresh Soyuz spacecraft.[6] This allowed for a crew to man the station continually. Skylab was also equipped with two docking ports, like second-generation stations, but the extra port was never utilized. The presence of a second port on the new stations allowed Progress supply vehicles to be docked to the station, meaning that fresh supplies could be brought to aid long-duration missions. This concept was expanded on Salyut 7, which "hard docked" with a TKS tug shortly before it was abandoned; this served as a proof-of-concept for the use of modular space stations. The later Salyuts may reasonably be seen as a transition between the two groups.

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Space station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HSF – International Space Station

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Space station updates have moved.

Please go to the Space Station page on the NASA Web for continuing international space station coverage.

Space travelers living on Mars for extended periods will need to grow plants, which provide food and generate oxygen. But the decreased gravity and low atmospheric pressure environment will stress the plants and make them hard to grow.

Greenhouses in the Station's Destiny Laboratory and in the Zvezda Service Module grow plants in a controlled environment. Station crews tend the plants, photograph them and harvest samples for return to Earth. Researchers can use the resulting data to develop new techniques for successfully growing plants in space.

NASA is also concerned about health hazards posed by space radiation. A spacecraft bound for Mars will be exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, and it will have to protect the humans inside from exposure.

On the station, sensors inside the crew areas monitor radiation levels. NASA scientists, who have maintained radiation data since the beginning of human space flight, continue to learn about the dangers it poses. Researchers use the station to test materials that could be used for Mars-bound spacecraft.

Will it ever be safe for humans to live on Mars? Researchers are learning more every day, thanks to the results of ISS experiments.

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HSF - International Space Station

Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station. (+video)

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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are now scheduled to conduct three spacewalks to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump on the station's exterior.

Three spacewalks over five days, with a final outing Christmas Day that ties the bow on a badly needed space-station repair job?

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This might not have been the way NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Air Force Col. Mike Hopkins originally planned to spend Christmas. But that's the schedule they face now that the agency has decided to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump on the station's exterior.

Mission managers made the call on Tuesday afternoon, determining that it was more prudent to replace the pump with one of three spare units the station carries than continue pursuing a work-around engineers had devised for bringing the pump back into full service.

The pump sends ammonia through one of two external cooling loops designed to remove heat from the station's interior as well as from equipment on the station's exterior.

On Dec. 11, ground controllers noticed that the fluid was too cool. Temperatures were sufficient to continue cooling equipment outside the station's modules. But the ammonia also circulates through a heat exchanger inside the station, accepting the excess heat from a water-based loop that keeps hardware, labs, and living spaces in the station cool.

Engineers isolated the problem to a flow-control valve used to regulate the ammonia's temperature and devised a way to use a different valve to do the job.

"The engineering teams did just an amazing job of sorting through all kinds of options to try to recover the valve and look at other ways to manage the flow," said Michael Suffredini, the International Space Station program manager.

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Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station. (+video)

Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station.

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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are now scheduled to conduct three spacewalks to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump on the station's exterior.

Three spacewalks over five days, with a final outing Christmas Day that ties the bow on a badly needed space-station repair job?

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

This might not have been the way NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Air Force Col. Mike Hopkins originally planned to spend Christmas. But that's the schedule they face now that the agency has decided to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump on the station's exterior.

Mission managers made the call on Tuesday afternoon, determining that it was more prudent to replace the pump with one of three spare units the station carries than continue pursuing a work-around engineers had devised for bringing the pump back into full service.

The pump sends ammonia through one of two external cooling loops designed to remove heat from the station's interior as well as from equipment on the station's exterior.

On Dec. 11, ground controllers noticed that the fluid was too cool. Temperatures were sufficient to continue cooling equipment outside the station's modules. But the ammonia also circulates through a heat exchanger inside the station, accepting the excess heat from a water-based loop that keeps hardware, labs, and living spaces in the station cool.

Engineers isolated the problem to a flow-control valve used to regulate the ammonia's temperature and devised a way to use a different valve to do the job.

"The engineering teams did just an amazing job of sorting through all kinds of options to try to recover the valve and look at other ways to manage the flow," said Michael Suffredini, the International Space Station program manager.

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Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station.

NASA plans spacewalks to repair International Space Station

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After an exhaustive effort to come up with a workaround to fix a balky valve in one of the International Space Station's two coolant loops, NASA managers decided Tuesday to change gears and press ahead with at least two and possibly three spacewalks to replace a refrigerator-size ammonia pump module.

Astronauts Rick Mastracchio, a spacewalk veteran, and first-time flier Mike Hopkins are scheduled to begin the first spacewalk, or EVA, Saturday around 7:10 a.m. EST (GMT-5). The second EVA is planned for Monday with the third, if necessary, on Christmas day.

The decision to carry out multiple spacewalks to repair coolant loop A means a delay for the planned launch of an Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket carrying the company's Cygnus cargo capsule. Orbital engineers rolled the rocket to its seaside pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Island, Va., flight facility early Tuesday for a possible launch try Thursday night.

The flight now will be put on hold until next month.

"Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft, atop its Antares rocket, now will launch no earlier than Jan. 13," NASA said in a statement. "The postponement of the Antares launch will allow ample time for the station crew to focus on repairing a faulty pump module that stopped working properly on Dec. 11."

While the station's six-member crew is not in any danger because of the coolant system problem, research activities have been curtailed and, more important, the lab has lost redundancy in a critical system. If a problem took down coolant loop B, the crew could be forced to evacuate and return to Earth aboard their Soyuz ferry craft.

"Our best position to be in is to have both those loops up and running and available to us," Kenny Todd, a senior space station manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said earlier. "While we're sitting at one loop, I think we're somewhat vulnerable, and so clearly, from a program perspective, our intention would be to move sooner rather than later to recover that functionality."

The space station is equipped with two independent external coolant loops that use ammonia to dissipate the heat generated by the lab's electrical systems. Cooling is critical for station operations and while one loop can support critical systems and keep the lab operational, both are needed to avoid powerdowns of non-essential equipment.

The problem with coolant loop A developed last week when the flow control valve inside the station's starboard/loop A ammonia pump module malfunctioned, allowing the temperature of the coolant to drop below safety limits.

That did not affect loop A's ability to cool major electrical components mounted in the station's solar power truss. But to carry away heat generated by systems inside the station's habitable modules, where ammonia is not allowed, the coolant must flow through "interface heat exchangers" where it picks up heat carried by water that flows through cold plates where electrical gear is mounted.

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NASA plans spacewalks to repair International Space Station

Snorkels in Space

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. After a spacewalking astronaut nearly drowned in his helmet in July, NASA has a plan to protect its crew when they venture into the vacuum of space this weekend: snorkels and absorbent towels.

NASA has determined that as many as four urgent spacewalks are necessary to fix a broken cooling line that led to the shutdown of several systems at the International Space Station, the space agency said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Station managers decided to send two American astronauts out as soon as possible to replace a pump with a bad valve.

The catch: Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned in July, when more than a gallon of water leaked into his helmet, filling it like a fishbowl. Should water start pooling up again, NASA says it will be ready -- thanks to a hack worthy of TV's "MacGyver."

- Allison Bolinger, NASA's lead U.S. spacewalk officer

Some smart engineers on the ground said, hey, this looks like a snorkel youd use for scuba diving, explained Allison Bolinger, NASA's lead U.S. spacewalk officer. NASA realized that a water-line vent tube could be snipped down and attached with Velcro within the spacesuit, between a water restraint valve and the astronaut, she explained.

The crew members themselves fabricated the snorkels on Sunday.

This is your last resort if water is in your suit you can lean down and use this to breathe, Bolinger said.

The space agency also installed absorptive pads in the back of each helmet, which will soak up any water that shows up like a sponge. The spacewalkers have been trained to tilt their heads back periodically to test the pad, she said; if it sucks up around 6 and a half ounces of water, it will feel squishy -- a sure sign of trouble.

Thats a sign there is a problem in the EMU and its time to come inside, Bolinger said.

The absorptive pads were designed on the ground and shipped up to the space station in a recent cargo craft. But while waiting for their arrival, NASAs engineers looked at other ways to MacGyver towels from material on board the space station: space diapers.

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Snorkels in Space

Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails

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A faulty pump means the space station might have to scrap a scheduled resupply to perform an emergency spacewalk. NASA hopes a temporary fix will allow the resupply to go ahead.

NASA engineers appear to have found a way to restore a balky coolant pump on the International Space Station that may allow a station resupply mission to launch this week, as planned.

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The alternative is to delay the launch to allow two ISS crew members to conduct two or three emergency spacewalks starting this weekend to replace the faulty pump.

Spare pumps are stored on the space station's truss scaffolding the length of a football field. The truss supports the station's solar panels, radiators for station cooling, and other utilities, including two external cooling loops that transfer heat to the radiators.

The cooling-system malfunction on the space station occurred Dec. 11. Controllers noticed unusually low temperatures in ammonia circulating through one of the cooling loops. Left unchecked, the chilled coolant could have frozen water flowing through a heat exchanger inside the station.

That could have damaged the exchanger and leaked ammonia into the station, said Judd Frieling, the lead flight director for Expedition 38, the space station's current increment, during a televised update Tuesday.

Controllers were able to reroute cooling to the second external loop, but the transfer meant the crew had to shut down nonessential equipment in order to reduce the heating load on the second loop.

Engineers traced the problem to a malfunctioning valve designed to adjust the flow of coolant. The coolant's temperature should remain within an optimum range for cooling the station's interior and some of its exterior hardware.

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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails

Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails (+video)

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A faulty pump means the space station might have to scrap a scheduled resupply to perform an emergency spacewalk. NASA hopes a temporary fix will allow the resupply to go ahead.

NASA engineers appear to have found a way to restore a balky coolant pump on the International Space Station that may allow a station resupply mission to launch this week, as planned.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The alternative is to delay the launch to allow two ISS crew members to conduct two or three emergency spacewalks starting this weekend to replace the faulty pump.

Spare pumps are stored on the space station's truss scaffolding the length of a football field. The truss supports the station's solar panels, radiators for station cooling, and other utilities, including two external cooling loops that transfer heat to the radiators.

The cooling-system malfunction on the space station occurred Dec. 11. Controllers noticed unusually low temperatures in ammonia circulating through one of the cooling loops. Left unchecked, the chilled coolant could have frozen water flowing through a heat exchanger inside the station.

That could have damaged the exchanger and leaked ammonia into the station, said Judd Frieling, the lead flight director for Expedition 38, the space station's current increment, during a televised update Tuesday.

Controllers were able to reroute cooling to the second external loop, but the transfer meant the crew had to shut down nonessential equipment in order to reduce the heating load on the second loop.

Engineers traced the problem to a malfunctioning valve designed to adjust the flow of coolant. The coolant's temperature should remain within an optimum range for cooling the station's interior and some of its exterior hardware.

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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails (+video)

Spaceflight – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Spaceflight (also written space flight) is ballistic flight into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft with or without humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station. Examples of unmanned spaceflight include space probes which leave Earth's orbit, as well as satellites in orbit around Earth, such as communication satellites. These operate either by telerobotic control or are fully autonomous.

Spaceflight is used in space exploration, and also in commercial activities like space tourism and satellite telecommunications. Additional non-commercial uses of spaceflight include space observatories, reconnaissance satellites and other earth observation satellites.

A spaceflight typically begins with a rocket launch, which provides the initial thrust to overcome the force of gravity and propels the spacecraft from the surface of the Earth. Once in space, the motion of a spacecraft both when unpropelled and when under propulsion is covered by the area of study called astrodynamics. Some spacecraft remain in space indefinitely, some disintegrate during atmospheric reentry, and others reach a planetary or lunar surface for landing or impact.

The realistic proposal of space travel goes back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His most famous work, " " (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices), was published in 1903, but this theoretical work was not widely influential outside of Russia.

Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the work of Robert H. Goddard's publication in 1919 of his paper 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes'; where his application of the de Laval nozzle to liquid fuel rockets gave sufficient power for interplanetary travel to become possible. He also proved in the laboratory that rockets would work in the vacuum of space; not all scientists of that day believed they would. This paper was highly influential on Hermann Oberth and Wernher Von Braun, later key players in spaceflight.

The first rocket to reach space, an altitude of 189km, was the German V-2 rocket, on a test flight in June 1944.[1] On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, which became the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, aboard which Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around the Earth. The lead architects behind the Soviet space program's Vostok 1 mission were the rocket scientists Sergey Korolyov and Kerim Kerimov.[2]

Rockets remain the only currently practical means of reaching space. Other non-rocket spacelaunch technologies such as scramjets still fall far short of orbital speed.

A rocket launch for a spaceflight usually starts from a spaceport (cosmodrome), which may be equipped with launch complexes and launch pads for vertical rocket launches, and runways for takeoff and landing of carrier airplanes and winged spacecraft. Spaceports are situated well away from human habitation for noise and safety reasons. ICBMs have various special launching facilities.

A launch is often restricted to certain launch windows. These windows depend upon the position of celestial bodies and orbits relative to the launch site. The biggest influence is often the rotation of the Earth itself. Once launched, orbits are normally located within relatively constant flat planes at a fixed angle to the axis of the Earth, and the Earth rotates within this orbit.

A launch pad is a fixed structure designed to dispatch airborne vehicles. It generally consists of a launch tower and flame trench. It is surrounded by equipment used to erect, fuel, and maintain launch vehicles.

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Spaceflight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marshall Space Flight Center Home Page | NASA

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Learn more about Marshall's vital roles in America's space program. Director's Welcome

Marshall Star Published online every Wednesday, the Marshall Star is the Marshall weekly newspaper. Read Now

Pocket Guide A fascinating look at the complex, challenging work at Marshall, and how its talented, dedicated team supports NASA goals. Read More (pdf)

Capabilities at Marshall Marshall brings vital resources to NASA and the nation for solving unique challenges of space exploration. Equipped with superior experience, critical skills and unique facilities. Read More (pdf)

Marshall at Work Visit our website that highlights recent activities and developments around the center Read More

Information Sheet An overview of Marshall's key areas of support, outreach initiatives, spinoffs and visitor information. Read More (pdf)

Marshall Facts The Marshall Center is a key contributor to significant NASA programs, continuing a legacy of accomplishment. Fact Sheet (pdf)

Economic Impact Brochure Marshall plays a key role in the economic success of Alabama. Read Now

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Marshall Space Flight Center Home Page | NASA

Final Three Mirrors For James Webb Space Telescope Arrive At NASA

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December 18, 2013

Image Caption: These two Webb telescope mirror segments (the sole secondary mirror and a primary mirror) arrived at Goddard on Nov. 5, 2012. Credit: NASA Goddard/Chris Gunn

NASA

The final three of 18 primary mirrors for NASAs James Webb Space Telescope arrived at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for integration prior to a scheduled launch in 2018.

Once on orbit, the 18 hexagonal mirror segments will work together as one 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror, the largest mirror ever flown in space and the first to deploy in space.

Having the final mirror segments at Goddard is an exciting program milestone. Its the culmination of more than a decade of advanced optics manufacturing and testing work by teams of extremely dedicated engineers, technicians and scientists, said Eric Smith, NASAs acting Webb telescope director in Washington. These mirrors are ready to meet up with the structure that will hold them incredibly stable, forming Webbs 6.5-meter-diameter primary mirror the largest space telescope ever built.

The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colo. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. Ball Aerospace also developed the secondary mirror, tertiary mirror and fine-steering mirror.

Balls sophisticated mirror architecture will provide James Webb with the most advanced infrared vision of any space observatory ever launched by NASA, said Robert Strain, Ball Aerospace president. A huge amount of teamwork was needed to meet the exacting requirements for the telescopes optical design and were eager to see the results.

Ball began an incremental process of shipping the finished mirrors to Goddard in September 2012. The mirrors are housed in custom shipping containers designed specifically for the multiple cross-country trips the mirrors made through eight US states during manufacturing. Each container is hermetically sealed to handle atmospheric pressure changes caused by shipping from high elevations such as Boulder to locations at or near sea level such as Greenbelt.

The premier observatory for the next decade, the Webb telescope will be stationed 1 million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth some four times farther away from us than the moon. Webb will be the most powerful space telescope ever built, able to detect the light from the first galaxies ever formed and explore planets around distant stars. It will study every phase of our universes history, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of stellar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.

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Final Three Mirrors For James Webb Space Telescope Arrive At NASA

Final James Webb Space Telescope mirrors arrive at NASA

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Dec 18, 2013 The last three of the 18 flight primary mirror segments arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on Dec. 16, 2013. After traveling across the country, the mirrors were prepped to enter a Goddard clean room for inspections. Credit: NASA Goddard/Chris Gunn

The final three of 18 primary mirrors for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for integration prior to a scheduled launch in 2018.

Once on orbit, the 18 hexagonal mirror segments will work together as one 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror, the largest mirror ever flown in space and the first to deploy in space.

"Having the final mirror segments at Goddard is an exciting program milestone. It's the culmination of more than a decade of advanced optics manufacturing and testing work by teams of extremely dedicated engineers, technicians and scientists," said Eric Smith, NASA's acting Webb telescope director in Washington. "These mirrors are ready to meet up with the structure that will hold them incredibly stable, forming Webb's 6.5-meter-diameter primary mirrorthe largest space telescope ever built."

The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colo. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. Ball Aerospace also developed the secondary mirror, tertiary mirror and fine-steering mirror.

"Ball's sophisticated mirror architecture will provide James Webb with the most advanced infrared vision of any space observatory ever launched by NASA," said Robert Strain, Ball Aerospace president. "A huge amount of teamwork was needed to meet the exacting requirements for the telescope's optical design and we're eager to see the results."

Ball began an incremental process of shipping the finished mirrors to Goddard in September 2012. The mirrors are housed in custom shipping containers designed specifically for the multiple cross-country trips the mirrors made through eight U.S. states during manufacturing. Each container is hermetically sealed to handle atmospheric pressure changes caused by shipping from high elevations such as Boulder to locations at or near sea level such as Greenbelt.

The premier observatory for the next decade, the Webb telescope will be stationed 1 million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth some four times farther away from us than the moon. Webb will be the most powerful space telescope ever built, able to detect the light from the first galaxies ever formed and explore planets around distant stars. It will study every phase of our universe's history, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of stellar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.

Explore further: James Webb telescope team completes optical milestone

(Phys.org)The powerful primary mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to detect the light from distant galaxies. The manufacturer of those mirrors, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of ...

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Final James Webb Space Telescope mirrors arrive at NASA

NASA crushes rocket fuel tank for science

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On December 9, NASA began what is either an impressive engineering test or a classic example of world-class larking about. At the space agencys Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, engineers are crushing an enormous can by subjecting it to almost one million pounds of force. This may seem like a party trick thats gone out of control, but theres a serious reason behind this or so NASA says. The crushing is part of the project to design the fuel tanks for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS), which will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft and deep space missions.

The problem with propellants is that you need some way to carry them. Early liquid fuel rockets had fuel tanks installed in their hulls, but in the 1950s, engineers saw this as a needless expense in weight and complexity. Their answer was to turn the fuselage of the the rocket itself into the fuel tank. By the 1960s, this had gone so far that the rockets that ran the Space Race ended up as giant, round metal envelopes that used the fuel as part of the structural integrity. Think of it as being like a plastic water bottle that can sit in a lunch bag just fine when its full, but crumples easily when empty.

This approach solved a lot of problems, but it added others. Not only did the hull have to cover equipment, it had to withstand pressures, control sloshing, and all sorts of things that a simple skin doesnt have to. And it had to do this while maintaining the rockets structural integrity.

The tests, called the Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project, are taking place at Marshalls Structural and Dynamics Engineering Test Laboratory, where the Saturn V rocket, the Space Shuttle, and components of the International Space Station underwent similar tests on the worlds largest tensile testbed. The tank is an unused Space Shuttle component. Its 27.5 ft (8.3 m) in diameter, is made of an aluminum-lithium alloy, and NASA says that its similar in structure to the SLS fuel tanks.

The purpose of the tests is to subject the tank to the sort of loads expected during an SLS launch. The tank is pressurized to simulate flight conditions and to see how well the it holds up to internal pressure, and the test bed inflicts compression and bending forces on it that cause some serious squishing.

"When it buckled it was quite dramatic," says Mark Hilburger, senior research engineer in the Structural Mechanics and Concepts Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "We heard the bang, almost like the sound of thunder and could see the large buckles in the test article."

The buckling is measured using a technique called Digital Image Correlation. For this, the tank is painted with 70,000 irregular black and white polka dots. Around the tank, 22 high-speed cameras monitor the dots continuously and record any buckles, rips or strains by measuring any displacement over a wide area.

The main goal of the tests is to find a way to reduce the weight of the SLS by 20 percent. This will allow the booster to carry heavier payloads and missions farther into deep space.

"In addition to providing data for the Space Launch System design team, these tests are preparing us for upcoming full-scale tests," says Matt Cash, Marshall's lead test engineer for the shell buckling efforts and the SLS forward skirt and liquid oxygen tank structural testing. "Performing structural tests on hardware that is the same size as SLS hardware is providing tremendous benefit for our future development work for the rocket."

The video below describes the crush test.

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NASA crushes rocket fuel tank for science

Media roundtable discussion with world space leaders on 8 January 2014 In Washington DC.

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Media roundtable discussion on 8 January 2014 to introduce 9/10 January event with world space leaders in Washington DC.

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) will be holding two major events in Washington DC, USA: the IAA Space Exploration Conference on 9 January 2014 and the Heads of Space Agencies Summit on Exploration (Planetary Robotic and Human Spaceflight Exploration) on 10 January 2014. The two-day gathering will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA. This event will be introduced by a pre-event media roundtable discussion at the Boeing Roslyn in Arlington, VA.

The Heads of 30 Space Agencies will gather with policy-makers, government representatives, scientists, leading academics and industry representatives from all over the world to follow on from the 2010 Summit, engaging in dialogue on topics of international concern, in particular focusing on Planetary Robotic and Human Space Flight Exploration. In addition, this IAA Summit will be taking place in conjunction with the International Space Exploration Forum, a policy dialogue on space exploration at ministerial level, hosted for the first time by the US Department of State with the participation of Ministers and government representatives from around the world.

On January 9, while Ministers will be gathering for the restricted ministerial conference, the IAA will kick off with a one-day Space Exploration Conference. Six parallel sessions will take place on the topics of planetary robotic and human spaceflight exploration. In addition, participants and guests will witness the official release of ground-breaking IAA studies from Study Group leaders on exploration topics.

On 10 January, the Heads of Space Agencies Summit will see Agency leaders discussing on what has been implemented in terms of the 2010 Summit Declaration follow-on actions, focusing on the current outlook and tabling new ideas on international cooperation through a series of four interactive roundtables.

The Heads of Space Agencies Summit will conclude with a Press Conference open to the international media. Media representatives can register for free attendance of the two-day Conference and Summit by sending an email with personal data (first and last name, date of birth, place of birth, citizenship, passport/ID number and information on affiliation) to Dr. Jean-Michel Contant, IAA Secretary General, at sgeneral@iaamail.org

PROVISIONAL PRESS PROGRAMME

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Pre-event media roundtable discussion:

Title: Media roundtable discussion with world space leaders

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Media roundtable discussion with world space leaders on 8 January 2014 In Washington DC.