Today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station, whose first construction module lifted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on this date in 1998.
So much of the process of space exploration has been ephemeral in terms of human involvement: yes, there are some abandoned bits and pieces on the Moon, we're about to add another citizen to Mars' burgeoning robot population, and there are various satellites and probes whirling around the solar system, but when it comes to people, humanity itself has just come and gone, leaving only a footprint or two. Space stations such as the ISS represent the first real progress toward establishing a permanent extraterrestrial presence for our species.
The International Space Station is the descendant of two space initiatives from the 1970s: the Soviet Salyut space station program, and the American Skylab.
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| Salyut 7, Skylab |
Later missions suffered from launch failures and mechanical issues in orbit. The second Salyut mission crashed into the Pacific Ocean during launch, its replacement and Salyut 3 both fell to Earth without ever being boarded, and only one of two crews were able to board the next successfully established station. However, the Salyut program also succeeding in establishing new records for time spent in space, and developing protocols for ongoing orbital stays and re-supply missions.
Skylab, which was launched on May 14, 1973, and infamously returned to Earth as a rain of fiery debris in 1979, has been the only space station to date operated solely by the United States. The Skylab program also suffered its share of problems, starting with damage to the micrometeorite shield and one of the station's primary solar panels during launch - in fact, the the primary purpose of SL-2, the first manned mission to Skylab, was to make repairs. After making the station inhabitable, the SL-2 crew spent 28 days on the station, setting a new record for time in orbit. The SL-3 and SL-4 missions extended that record to 59 and then 84 days in 1974, after which the station was abandoned until its orbit decayed.*
The Mir station was the successor to the Salyut program, and took the evolutionary step of modular construction in order to create a larger station, rather than the single-unit approach taken by Salyut and Skylab. Originally established by the Soviet Union in 1986 and later kept in operation by Russia until it was de-orbited in 2001, Mir also planted the seed of international cooperation in space exploration. Over its 15 year lifespan, Mir hosted astronauts** from the United States, France, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Syria, Afghanistan, and, of course, Canada: Chris Hadfield's first mission into space was a space shuttle flight to Mir.
These three programs paved the way for the ISS by proving the value of a permanent orbital platform for scientific research, establishing the feasibility of extended stays in space by humans, and demonstrating the practicality of using a modular approach to orbital construction.
The ISS has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a repurposed 12.5 metre Mir module. Twenty years and 136 assembly flights later, the current configuration is 109 metres in length, weighs just over 400 metric tonnes, and offers visitors 32,333 cubic feet of space, with as much living room as a six bedroom house.*** (By the way, there's a great tour of the interior of the ISS available on Google™ Streetview.) It also represents the first truly international cooperative space venture, with sixteen nations being involved in the station's construction: the United States, Russia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
230 astronauts have visited the station, which has been continuously occupied since the end of 2000, with NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson setting the record for the longest time in space at 665 days.
It would be wonderful if the ISS followed through on its obvious potential to act as a way station to the Moon, Mars, or any similar manned exploratory missions to explore the solar system, or even just continued in its current role as a unique and productive research platform. However, at the moment its days are numbered. Funding by the US government is scheduled to end in 2025, after which its fate is uncertain. Although other countries provide financial support (Canada has chipped in $1.4 billion since the station's inception) NASA handles the lion's share of the expenses - if the US government pulled out, the station's future would be in jeopardy.
Although privatization has been suggested, so far the private sector has not demonstrated very much interest in the station, other than Space-X's Dragon re-supply contract. Perhaps an even more public approach is the solution: what if we all had the opportunity to directly support the ISS? I already donate about sixty dollars a year to the Planetary Society to support space exploration - it would only cost the US population ten dollars per citizen annually to match their government's current financial commitment. How many people spend more than that at Starbuck's every day?
- Sid
* Skylab also set the stage for the first recorded orbital mutiny.
Overwhelmed by the frantic work schedule set by NASA for the last Skylab mission
before the decommissioning of the station, the irritated Skylab 4 mission crew turned off
their radio link to Mission Control and went on a one-day strike on
December 28th, 1973.** Mir also hosted a Japanese journalist, Toyohiro Akiyama, in 1990.
*** Some sources say a five bedroom house, although the station sleeps six - I guess it depends on how big bedrooms are where you come from.
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