Monthly Archives: June 2017

The International Space Station, as photographed by crewmembers aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 2010.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the most complex international scientific and engineering project in history and the largest structure humans have ever put into space. This high-flying satellite is a laboratory for new technologies and an observation platform for astronomical, environmental and geological research. As a permanently occupied outpost in outer space, it serves as a stepping-stone for further space exploration. This includes Mars, which NASA is now stating is its goal for human space exploration.

The space station flies at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. It circles the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). In one day, the station travels about the distance it would take to go from Earth to the moon and back. The space station can rival the brilliant planet Venus in brightness and appears as a bright moving light across the night sky. It can be seen from Earth without the use of a telescope by night sky observers who know when and where to look. You canuse our Satellite Tracker pagepowered byN2YO.comto find out when to see the space station.

Five different space agencies representing 15 countries built the $100-billion International Space Station and continue to operate it today.NASA, Russia's Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos), theEuropean Space Agency, theCanadian Space Agencyand theJapan Aerospace Exploration Agencyare the primary space agency partners on the project.

The International Space Station was taken into space piece-by-piece and graduallybuilt in orbit. It consists of modules and connecting nodes that contain living quarters andlaboratories, as well as exterior trusses that provide structural support, and solar panels that provide power. The first module, Russia's Zarya module, launched in 1998.The station has been continuously occupied since Nov. 2, 2000.

[Infographic: The International Space Station: Inside and Out]

Starting in 2015, changes to the ISS were performed to prepare the complex for crewed commercial spacecraft, which will begin arriving as early as 2017.Two international docking adapterswill be added to the station. Additionally, an inflatable module from Bigelow Aerospace isscheduled to arrive in 2016.

Current plans call for the space station to be operated through at least 2020. NASA has requested an extension until 2024. Discussions to extend the space station's lifetime are ongoing among all international partners; several countries, such as Canada, Russia and Japan, have expressed their support for extending the station's operations.

During the space station's major construction phase, some Russian modules and docking ports were launched directly to the orbiting lab, while other NASA and international components (including Russian hardware) were delivered on U.S. space shuttles. [Rare Photos: Space Shuttle at Space Station]

The space station, including its large solar arrays, spans the area of a U.S. football field, including the end zones, and weighs 861,804 lbs. (391,000 kilograms), not including visiting vehicles. The complex now has more livable room than a conventional five-bedroom house, and has two bathrooms, gym facilities and a 360-degree bay window. Astronauts have also compared the space station's living space to the cabin of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

A six-person expedition crew typically stays four to six months aboard the ISS. The first space station crews were three-person teams, though after the tragicColumbia shuttle disasterthe crew size temporarily dropped to two-person teams. The space station reached its full six-person crew size in 2009 as new modules, laboratories and facilities were brought online.

Also in 2009, the record for the largest gathering in space was set during NASA's STS-127 shuttle mission aboard Endeavour. When Endeavour docked with the International Space Station, the shuttle's seven-person crew went aboard the orbiting lab, joining the six spaceflyers already there. The 13-person party was the largest-ever gathering of people in space at the same time. While subsequent NASA shuttle and station crews matched the 13-person record, it has never been topped. [Related: The Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records]

With a full complement of six crewmembers, the station operates as a full research facility. In recent years, technology such as 3-D printing, autonomous Earth imaging, laser communications and mini-satellite launchers have been added to the station; some are controlled by crewmembers, and some controlled by the ground. Additionally, there are dozens of ongoing investigations looking at the health of astronauts staying on the station for several months. [Related: Weightlessness and Its Effect on Astronauts]

Crews are not only responsible for science, but also for maintaining the station. Sometimes, this requires that they venture on spacewalks to perform repairs. From time to time, these repairs can be urgent such as when a part of the ammonia system fails, which has happened a couple of times.

Spacewalk safety procedures were changed after apotentially deadly 2013 incidentwhen astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet filled with water while he was working outside the station. NASA now responds quickly to water incursion incidents. It also has added pads to the spacesuits to soak up the liquid, and a tube to provide an alternate breathing location should the helmet fill with water. NASA is also testing technology that could supplement or replace astronaut spacewalks. One example is Robonaut. A prototype currently on board the station is able to flip switches and do other routine tasks under supervision, and may be modified at some point to work outside as well. [Infographic: Meet Robonaut 2, NASA's Space Droid]

If the crew needs to evacuate the station, they can return to Earth aboard two Russian Soyuz vehicles docked to the ISS. Additional crewmembers are transported to the ISS by Soyuz. Prior to the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, new space station crewmembers were also ferried to and from the station during shuttle missions. In 2017 or so, NASA expects to replace most Soyuz flights with SpaceX's crewedDragon spacecraftandBoeing's CST-100.

Crews aboard the ISS are assisted by mission control centers in Houston and Moscow and a payload control center in Huntsville, Ala. Other international mission control centers support the space station from Japan, Canada and Europe. The ISS can also be controlled from mission control centers in Houston or Moscow. [Photos:Space Station's Expedition 32 Mission]

The ISS hosted its first one-year crew in 2015-16, with NASA's Scott Kelly and Roscosmos' Mikhail Kornienko, which drew international attention and acclaim. The agencies have expressed interest in running more one-year missions in the future, but have not made a commitment to date.

The International Space Station is the largest structure in space ever built by humans. Let's see how much you know about the basics of this science laboratory in the sky.

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Cosmic Quiz: Do You Know the International Space St...

The International Space Station is the largest structure in space ever built by humans. Let's see how much you know about the basics of this science laboratory in the sky.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor.

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International Space Station: Facts, History & Tracking

ALTA LOMA >> Forget putting a class project on the refrigerator: A group of Alta Loma Christian middle school students have their work orbiting the Earth aboard the International Space Station.

Aboard the ISS is a cube designed and programmed by the Alta Loma SpaceEagles space science and engineering team. The cube has a light that turns on and off based on input from a pair of heat sensors. Alta Loma Christian was one of 11 middle schools nationwide taking part in the Quest for Space Beta ISS Project, organized by the San Jose-based Quest Institute for Quality Education.

It was a bag of parts, made for prototyping, said Boeing engineer Jim DellaNeve, who was an adviser for the students.

Students used software from Lego Mindstorms and Microsoft to develop their project, which was then copied onto hardware that was launched into space June 3 aboard SpaceX mission CRS-11 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

I knew going into it, that if it was going to be a stretch, we had the perfect kids coming to handle it, said science teacher and STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) coordinator Michelle Martinez. And they did amazing.

The SpaceEagles got a more authentic engineering experience than the project developers envisioned.

It also didnt help that Quest didnt have the right diagrams at first, said Jeffrey Kotz, 14, who served as project manager and head electrical engineer as a then-eighth grader. I tried to build my own, but it didnt work any better.

Things going wrong, of course, was an education all its own.

More of my role than anything was peacemaker when things got stressful, said math teacher Jasmine Royse. There was absolutely just as much learning in the teamwork process and in the team building process as in the engineering process.

And those skills were needed:

I can be challenging working with a team, laughed Samuel Bement, 14, who was an eighth grader during the projects construction and who served as one of two coders on the project. But it was a great experience, learning how to work with people.

And ultimately, thats the most valuable skill learned on an ambitious project like the Quest for Space.

When the pressures on, do you behave yourself, do you finger point? Those are real-world things that are invaluable, DellaNeve said.

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This likely wont be the last time Alta Lomas SpaceEagles fly:

When its time to re-up, we wont wait, said Vance Nichols, Alta Loma Christians Head of School, whose father was an aerospace design engineer. Were in as soon as its available.

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International Space Station hosts Alta Loma middle school students ... - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Jun.19.2017 / 10:35 AM ET

While it plans to someday host a moon colony and space station, the proposed space-based nation Asgardia is starting small: The project will launch its first satellite this fall to store data for the nation's newly selected citizens. Some 200,000 were chosen from the more than 500,000 applicants.

During a press conference in Hong Kong on June 13, Asgardia's founder, Igor Ashurbeyli, revealed concrete details about the satellite: Asgardia-1 will be deployed from Orbital ATK's Cygnus OA-8 resupply spacecraft launching in September.

Related: Private Space Stations of the Future Imagined

The satellite is 10 x 20 x 20 centimeters (3.9 x 7.9 x 7.9 inches) and has eight batteries and four deployable solar arrays. It will orbit at up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) above Earth. Texas-based space-services firm NanoRacks acts as the satellite's prime contractor and operator.

Someday, Ashurbeyli said, he hopes to create a planetary-defense constellation that will help protect against asteroids, solar flares and human-made space debris; this satellite is just the first step.

During the conference, Ashurbeyli also described plans for a space station and moon colony. "We plan to have this station in space and on the moon," he said. "It will be a four-level orbital station. I think the technical details will be defined by the Ministry of Science, which I hope we will have in the autumn of this year."

Ashurbeyli didn't provide additional details, but Asgardia has released imagery of the potential off-Earth locations. One image shows a rotating-wheel space station alongside an interplanetary rocket, and another shows, presumably, the interior of that space station with a wall of windows, a canal and greenery. The rocket has a habitation module and a lunar lander that looks like a cross between the NASA Orion spacecraft and the 1960s Apollo program lunar lander.

The approved applicants for Asgardian citizenship will be invited to vote on a constitution for the space-based nation on June 18. At that time, Ashurbeyli said, the organs of the proposed state the ministries, parliament and executive branch should be created. Ashurbeyli is calling June 18 Asgardian National Unity Day, and the date will be a public holiday if the state is realized.

Related: Incredible Technology: How to Build a Space Station Colony

More than 500,000 people applied for Asgardian citizenship online within 20 days when the project was announced in October last year. The organizers removed ineligible people, such as children, and were left with almost 200,000 people from about 200 countries. (Now, the website lists more than 210,000.) The approved applicants have each received personal certificates of Asgardia and can vote to approve the lawyer-designed constitution on June 18. The constitution was published on June 13.

Of the citizenship applicants, 80 percent are men, and the largest demographic comprises 18- to 35-year-olds. While there are applicants from almost every country on Earth, China has the most applicants, followed by Turkey, then the United States and then Italy. People can register as prospective Asgardians on the website.

Asgardia is being funded by Ashurbeyli's nonprofit Aerospace International Research Center (AIRC), based in Vienna. He said he expects that once Asgardia's constitution is approved, the state will be built by its citizen volunteers and Asgardia will become self-funding. Ashurbeyli said he expects to file for United Nations recognition by April 2018, if Asgardia's parliament and government have been set up and the satellite launched before then, he said during the conference.

In the meantime, AIRC owns Asgardian intellectual property. The company will collect, analyze and fund ideas and startups in space technology for the benefit of Asgardia. Ashurbeyli is also offering 300KB of free data storage on board Asgardia-1 for Asgardian citizens. Family members, up to a maximum of 400,000 people, will get 200KB. Another 1 million people will get 100KB.

"Sixty years after the launch of the first-ever artificial satellite, Sputnik, our own space satellite, Asgardia-1, will mark the beginning of a new space era, taking our citizens into space in virtual form, at first," Ashurbeyli said.

Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law in Montreal, is the Asgardia project team legal expert. During the conference, he told the press that the Asgardian data stored on Asgardia-1 would be subject to U.S. privacy laws. The Asgardians' data will also be stored on future Asgardian satellites.

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Aspiring Space-Based Nation to Start with Baby Steps - NBCNews.com