Category Archives: Space Station

This prototype shows what the tiles made from space waste will look like. The real thing will actually be square. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Hauling trash off the International Space Station can be an expensive proposition, especially without NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. So NASA has come up with a system to recycle the waste astronauts develop into radiation-protecting tiles for the space station.

Astronauts working in orbit around the Earth generate waste and they have little room to store it.

Shipping it back to earth is costly, too, so NASA is working on a space station recycling program.

The NASA waste handling system crushes waste to a fraction of its original size, and if that brings to mind the trash compactor scene from Star Wars, John Fisher, a scientist with the Bioengineering Branch at NASA, says astronauts have nothing to worry about. The NASA trash compactor is much too small for a person.

Fisher says its designed to take many other things though, like food packaging, food scraps, tape, cans, paper, plastic bags and even what's known as the astronaut diaper. All that waste is collected from around the spacecraft, then placed inside the heat melt compactor an 8-to-10 inch cube-shaped device.

Once it's filled, the device is run to crush the various items and heat them to remove any residual moisture the trash may contain.

"We continue heating and continue compacting it until you compact from maybe something about 10 inches deep to about one-tenth or slightly less than that of its volume," Fisher said. "The temperature eventually goes up to something over 300, 400 Fahrenheit and the plastic that's in there melts and encapsulates the waste. And then we cool it down and we bring it out and what you have is kind of a hard plastic tile with most of the other waste materials embedded inside of it."

But NASA doesn't make them so dense just to take up less space so they can be shipped back to Earth. The space agency is planning to use them as radiation shields inside the space station, Fisher said.

"Radiation protection works best when the substance you're using contains a lot of hydrogen, and plastic contains a lot of hydrogen as well as carbon, which is still a relatively good material for radiation protection," he added.

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NASA develops system to recycle space station waste into radiation-protecting tiles

Mir was a space station that operated for more than 15 years in low Earth orbit. The design was conceived under the Soviet Union, and the station continued work under Russia after the union fell apart in the early 1990s.

The space station served as an important precursor to today's International Space Station. Aboard Mir, crews dealt for the first time with long-duration stays in space of more than 400 days. Health effects and psychological situations were observed and documented.

In later years, NASA used Mir as a testbed for international co-operation. The agency was eager to move forward with ISS, but felt that it required experience working with Russia before continuing. As such, NASA signed an agreement to send its astronauts aboard Mir.

Results from the program were mixed, with some American astronauts comparing about feeling isolated and undersupported when training overseas. Worse, by the time NASA astronauts arrived, Mir was nearing the end of its operational lifetime and experienced frequent power failures and a near-fatal fire.

Astronauts generally, however, got a lot of microgravity research done during the program. Also, the experience aboard Mir gave NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) an education on how to best work together for ISS.

Extending long-term duration experience

According to Enyclopedia Astronautica, Mir was intended as a successor project to the Soviet Union's Salyut series of space stations. While the United States was focused on the moon program in the 1960s and developing the shuttle in the 1970s, Russia went in another direction after the space race.

The country worked on developing expertise in long-duration spaceflight, and felt that a larger space station would allow for more research in that area. Mir was originally authorized in a February 1976, then evolved by 1978 to a station with several ports for crewed Soyuz spacecraft and cargo Progress spaceships.

NPO Energia began work in earnest on the station in 1979, reportedly subcontracting the responsibilities to KB Salyut because Energia was preoccupied with the Salyut, Soyuz, and Progress programs, among others. Work stalled somewhat as Russia developed a Buran space shuttle, but according to the encyclopedia, in 1984 the Soviet Union made it a priority to orbit the station in two years to coincide with the 27th Communist Party Congress in spring 1986.

It took some planning adjustments, but the first module of Mir launched successfully on Feb. 20, 1986. The next step would be bringing it alive for cosmonauts to occupy it.

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Mir Space Station: Testing Long-Term Stays in Space

Kerbal Space Program Ep. 34 Extending The Space Station
In this episode i attempt to tackle docking, which would open up a whole new set of possibilities for things we could build.

By: iampeppino

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Kerbal Space Program Ep. 34 Extending The Space Station - Video

KSP - Minmus Space Station - Episode 4
Kerbal Space Program or KSP is a game that allows you to construct rockets and probes and explore celestial bodies. Its up to you how the future of the kerbal #39;s space program is achieved by either success or Jebidiah #39;s wife beating you to death. In this episode I talk about the space shuttle and about our space program. I also attach the second solar panel to the Minmus space station! Its starting to look like a real space station! Version of KSP 0.18.2

By: goose79335

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KSP - Minmus Space Station - Episode 4 - Video

Star as viewed from International Space Station
Star as viewed from International Space Station Videographer Alex Rivest combined photographs from the International Space Station and music from London PM

By: NewsToday7

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Star as viewed from International Space Station - Video

The Skylab Orbital Workshop experienced a failure that led to a replacement shield to protect against solar heating. CREDIT: NASA.

Skylab was the first space station operated by the United States. It spent six years orbiting Earth until its decaying orbit caused it to re-enter the atmosphere. It scattered debris over the Indian Ocean and sparsely settled areas of Western Australia.

Three crews successfully lived on board the station for several months each. The last crew spent 84 days in orbit an American record that stood until the shuttle era.

Rocky start

Various NASA centers had kicked around ideas for a space station for years before Skylab launched. However, the agency was very focused on the space race and moonshots that dominated public consciousness in the 1960s. Money for other endeavors was not as available.

As Apollo began to wind down in the early 1970s, NASA began an Apollo Applications Program to fly unused hardware from the moon program. One idea, proposed by famous Apollo rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, would be to build a space station out of an unused rocket stage. The design evolved over the years as NASA struggled with reduced funding.

Skylab finally aimed for space on May 14, 1973. However, a meteoroid shield that was supposed to shelter Skylab accidentally opened about 63 seconds into the launch. The still-thick atmosphere tore the shield off, plunging Skylab into a serious situation. The facility experienced communications problems with the antenna as a result of the incident, but that was the least of the agency's worries.

"When the meteoroid shield ripped loose, it disturbed the mounting of workshop solar array wing No. 2 and caused it to partially deploy. The exhaust plume of the second stage retro-rockets impacted the partially deployed solar array and literally blew it into space," NASA wrote.

Workers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center scrambled to stabilize the station. Among other measures, they put the station in an attitude that would minimize overheating, and came up with ways to cope with the station's reduced power situation.

Meanwhile, the first crew led by Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad would need to make the station habitable before they could get to work. The crew's first challenge during the spacewalk, just hours after launch, was deploying the solar array, but initial attempts met with no luck as a metal strip holding it down refused to give way.

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Skylab: First U.S. Space Station

Space Station 13 (SS13) - Part Seventeen - Spine-tingling Snarls [HD]
In this episode Link is continuously clicking, Luke and Andrew try to traverse the station, struggling to fix it up and avoid pressurised areas. They manage to get to engineering where Link awaits to pounce with a strong alien assault on the duo. Excuse the violent and disgusting noise the alien makes, but it #39;s there for special audio effects. Link ejaculates green liquid pretty much everywhere, Luke attempts to keep him and Andrew alive and Andrew brainlessly swings his baton around in attempt to kill the alien. The alien traps them in engineering and continues to attack them and smash windows. Andrew gets critically wounded and sliced up, but Luke manages to triumph.

By: KinkedLink

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Space Station 13 (SS13) - Part Seventeen - Spine-tingling Snarls [HD] - Video

Space Station 13 (SS13) - Part Eighteen - Microwave Monkey [HD]
In this episode Link was captured by Andrew and Luke. Being held in a captivity for days upon days, they did autopsies, tests and anal analyses on Link. This made Link tremendously indignant, gnawing his teeth and scratching against the windows. This was met by blast doors, force fields and mind-blowing sleep particles being flooded into Link #39;s chamber. Immune to this laughing gas Link manages to break the windows and let the gas out to affect Luke and Andrew. While waiting for a moment to escape Link makes a little nest for himself; spitting weeds everywhere in his chamber. Whilst Luke is concerned about the gas problem, Link attempts to persuade Andrew to let him free. However, he is strong willed and Link is infuriated by this resistance.

By: KinkedLink

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Space Station 13 (SS13) - Part Eighteen - Microwave Monkey [HD] - Video

Megaman Starforce 1: Space Station Comp 2 Taurus Constellation Puzzle Solution
No video, just a pic of what the solution should look like. Astronomy never was my strong suit in school (and yes, I did take Astronomy in college), so it took me a while to come up with the solution, even while following The_Sixler #39;s GameFAQs walkthrough (sorry, both dude and GameFAQs, but it #39;s true. There #39;s no PNGs or pics on what the solution should look like). I skipped Cygnus #39;s puzzle on purpose because it #39;s a cakewalk and is pretty much a cross. I #39;ll have Libra #39;s puzzle up as soon as I solve it. Credit to GameFAQs and The_Sixler for getting me this far.

By: J. Schoenborn

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Megaman Starforce 1: Space Station Comp 2 Taurus Constellation Puzzle Solution - Video

International YouTube Space Station - HOCgaming #39;s Module
Hey guys, Harv here, and welcome to the International YouTube Space Station! I decided that the Space Station needed a little light entertainment to keep the Kerbonaughts safe from the effects of prolonged micro-gravity. IVA doesn #39;t include an exercise bike, you see, so what better than a zero-gravity sports pitch? If participants hit the net, not only do they lose the point but they also have to pay for and repair the expensive equipment. IYSS LINKS: bit.ly - All Episodes! bit.ly - Forum Thread bit.ly - Awesome Website (bit out of date, though) LINKS: steamcommunity.com - Steam Group http://www.youtube.com - Channel http://www.youtube.com - Let #39;s Play Channel http://www.youtube.com - More KSP Videos Intro/ Outro music is "Mechanolith" by Kevin MacLeod. All (if any) other music used is in-game or Royalty Free, usually created by the wonderful Kevin MacLeod. Check out his work over at http://www.incompetech.com Kerbal Space Program is available at http There is also a free demo, if you just want to try the basic game out first. Many thanks to SQUAD, the copyright holders of Kerbal Space Program. No copyright infringement intended. TAGS: "Kerbal Space Program" KSP Harv HOCgaming Tutorial Walkthrough "How To" Docking "Fuel Transfer" "Solar Panels" "Inter-Planetary" "Update 0.18" "International YouTube Space Station" International Space Station IYSS ISS "The Solar Gamer" "Try Dying to Live" Module

By: HOCgaming

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International YouTube Space Station - HOCgaming's Module - Video