Chapter 2: International Space Station

JAXA (Japan), CSA (Canada), Roscosmos (Russia), and the European Space Agency (ESA) are the five space agencies that work together to construct and operate the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit. The ISS is a massive space station that was created and is maintained by a partnership between these five space agencies and their respective contractors. It is the largest space station that has ever been constructed. The major objective of this apparatus is to carry out experiments in microgravity and space environments.

Both the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), which is assembled by Roscosmos, and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is assembled by NASA, JAXA, ESA, and CSA, are the two portions that make up the station in terms of its operational composition. A prominent characteristic of the International Space Station is the Integrated Truss Structure, which is responsible for connecting the pressurized modules to the enormous solar panels and radiators. Research, habitation, storage, spacecraft control, and airlock functions are among of the specialized activities that the pressurized modules are designed to perform. Eight docking and berthing ports are available aboard the station, which allows visiting spacecraft to dock there. The International Space Station (ISS) travels around the Earth in approximately 93 minutes, during which time it completes 15.5 orbits per day. Its orbit is maintained at an average altitude of 400 kilometers (250 miles).

In order to create crewed Earth-orbiting stations, the International Space Station (ISS) program merges two previous plans: the Space Station Freedom station, which was planned by the United States, and the Mir-2 station, which was planned by the Soviet Union. The first module to be launched into space was in 1998. Both the Proton and Soyuz rockets, in addition to the Space Shuttle launch system, have been responsible for the launch of major modules. When Expedition 1 landed on November 2, 2000, they were the first people to live there permanently. The space station has been continuously occupied for a total of 24 years and 33 days since that time, making it the longest continuous human presence in space overall. The space station has been visited by 279 people from 22 different countries as of the most recent report in March of 2024. The International Space Station (ISS) is anticipated to contain additional modules, such as the Axiom Orbital Segment, and will remain operational until the end of the year 2030. After that, it is scheduled to be de-orbited by a NASA ship that is specifically designed for the purpose.

At the beginning of the 1970s, as the space race was coming to an end, the United States of America and the Soviet Union started to consider a number of other possibilities for working together in space. The culmination of this was the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, which was the first time that spacecraft from two distinct spacefaring nations docked against each other. The Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) was deemed a success, and more cooperative missions were also proposed.

An example of such a plan was International Skylab, which envisaged the deployment of the backup space station Skylab B for a mission that would involve several visits by crew vehicles from both the Apollo and Soyuz space transportation systems. The Skylab-Salyut Space Laboratory was a more ambitious project, as it envisioned docking the Skylab B space station to a Salyut space station that was operated by the Soviet Union. These ideas were abandoned in the late 1970s due to declining funding and rising tensions during the Cold War. Another plan to have the Space Shuttle dock with a Salyut space station was also abandoned around the same time.

An alternative to the Salyut and Mir space stations, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) intended to deploy a modular space station known as Freedom in the early 1980s. An invitation to take part in Space Station Freedom was sent to the European Space Agency in 1984, and by 1987, the ESA had given its approval to the Columbus laboratory. Kibo, also known as the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), was revealed in 1985 as a component of the Freedom space station. This announcement was made in response to a request made by NASA in 1982.

During the beginning of 1985, the science ministers of the countries who were members of the European Space Agency (ESA) gave their approval to the Columbus program. This mission was the most ambitious endeavor in space that the ESA had undertaken at the time. Germany and Italy were the driving forces behind the proposal, which included a module that would be linked to Freedom and would have the potential to develop into a fully functional European orbital outpost before the century came to a close.

At the beginning of the 1990s, these plans were called into question due to the rising prices. Despite the fact that Congress was unwilling to allocate sufficient funds to construct and operate Freedom, they demanded that NASA enhance foreign participation in order to alleviate the mounting expenses. If they did not comply, they threatened to cancel the entire project.

Concurrently, the Soviet Union was engaged in the process of building the Mir-2 space station, and by the middle of the 1980s, they had already began the construction of modules for the new installation. Nevertheless, due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, these plans had to be significantly scaled back, and it was soon clear that there was a possibility that Mir-2 would never be launched at all. Due to the fact that both space station programs were in danger, officials from the United States and Russia got together and suggested that they be integrated.

The International Space Station (ISS) was initially conceived of as a laboratory, observatory, and factory in addition to serving as a low-Earth orbit staging platform for potential future trips to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. It was also planned to provide transportation and maintenance services. However, not all of the applications that were described in the initial memorandum of understanding that was signed between NASA and Roscosmos have been put into practice. Additionally, the International Space Station (ISS) was given the responsibility of fulfilling economic, diplomatic, and educational functions as part of the United States' National Space Policy in 2010.

Experiments can be supported by the International Space Station (ISS), which provides a platform for doing scientific research by providing power, data, cooling, and personnel. Space stations offer a long-term setting in which studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers. While small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, particularly those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, space stations offer a particularly advantageous combination of these two factors.

Individual experiments are made easier by the International Space Station (ISS), which enables groups of experiments to share the same launches and crew time. There are many different areas of study that are being investigated, including as astrobiology, astronomy, the physical sciences, materials science, space weather, meteorology, and human research, which includes space medicine and the life sciences. In a timely manner, scientists on Earth have access to the data, and they are able to provide suggestions to the crew for experimental modifications. When it comes to launching new hardware, the routinely planned launches of resupply ships make it possible to launch new hardware with reasonable ease in the event that follow-up experiments are required. Expeditions that last for several months are flown by crews, which provide around 160 person-hours of labor each week with a crew of six people. Station maintenance, on the other hand, consumes a significant percentage of the crew's time that is available.

One of the most noteworthy experiments carried out by the International Space Station (ISS) is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which aims to identify dark matter and provide answers to other fundamental issues concerning our cosmos. AMS is considered to be on par with the Hubble Space Telescope in terms of its significance by NASA. Although it is now parked at the station, it would not have been possible to easily fit it on a free floating satellite platform due to the power and bandwidth requirements that it possesses. It was announced by scientists on April 3, 2013, that the Advanced Microwave Background (AMS) may have identified traces of dark matter. The scientists have stated that "the first results from the space-borne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer confirm an unexplained excess of high-energy positrons in Earth-bound cosmic rays." [Citation needed] [Citation needed]

Life is not able to survive in the atmosphere of space. The presence of an unprotected individual in space is distinguished by the existence of a high vacuum, extreme temperatures, microgravity, and an intense radiation field. This radiation field is mostly composed of protons and other subatomic charged particles that originate from the solar wind, in addition to cosmic energy. Desiccation allows for the survival of certain primitive forms of life known as extremophiles, as well as tardigrades, which are small invertebrates. These organisms are able to survive in this environment in an extremely dry state.

Research in the field of medicine helps to advance our understanding of the consequences that prolonged space travel has on the human body, including the atrophy of muscles, the loss of bone, and the shift of fluid. The purpose of these data is to assess whether or not it is possible...