What does the ISS space station look like? What is the altitude of the ISS orbit? Orbit of the ISS around the Earth
It was launched into outer space in 1998. At the moment, for almost seven thousand days, day and night, the best minds of mankind have been working on solving the most complex mysteries in weightlessness.
Space
Every person who at least once saw this unique object, asked a logical question: what is the height of the orbit of the international space station? It's just impossible to answer it in one word. The orbit altitude of the International Space Station ISS depends on many factors. Let's consider them in more detail.
The ISS orbit around the Earth is decreasing due to the impact of the rarefied atmosphere. The speed decreases, respectively, and the height decreases. How to go up again? The altitude of the orbit can be changed by the engines of the ships that dock to it.
Various Heights
For the entire period space mission several major values have been recorded. Back in February 2011, the height of the ISS orbit was 353 km. All calculations are made in relation to sea level. The height of the ISS orbit in June of the same year increased to three hundred and seventy-five kilometers. But this was far from the limit. Just two weeks later, NASA employees were happy to answer the question "What is the height of the ISS orbit at the moment?" - three hundred and eighty-five kilometers!
And this is not the limit
The height of the ISS orbit was still insufficient to resist natural friction. Engineers took a responsible and very risky step. The height of the ISS orbit was to be increased to four hundred kilometers. But this event happened a little later. The problem was that only ships were lifting the ISS. The orbit height was limited for the shuttles. Only over time, the restriction was abolished for the crew and the ISS. The altitude of the orbit since 2014 has exceeded 400 kilometers above sea level. The maximum average value was recorded in July and amounted to 417 km. In general, altitude adjustments are made constantly to fix the most optimal route.
History of creation
Back in 1984, the US government was hatching plans to launch a large-scale scientific project in the nearest space. Do this alone grand construction even the Americans found it rather difficult and Canada and Japan were involved in the development.
In 1992, Russia was included in the campaign. In the early nineties, a large-scale Mir-2 project was planned in Moscow. But economic problems did not allow grandiose plans to be realized. Gradually, the number of participating countries grew to fourteen.
Bureaucratic delays took more than three years. Only in 1995 was the sketch of the station adopted, and a year later - the configuration.
November 20, 1998 was an outstanding day in the history of world cosmonautics - the first block was successfully delivered into the orbit of our planet.
Assembly
The ISS is ingenious in its simplicity and functionality. The station consists of independent blocks, which are interconnected like a large constructor. It is impossible to calculate the exact cost of the object. Each new block is made in a different country and, of course, varies in price. Total such parts can be attached great amount so the station can be updated continuously.
Validity
Due to the fact that the station blocks and their contents can be changed and upgraded an unlimited number of times, the ISS can surf the expanses of near-Earth orbit for a long time.
The first alarm bell rang in 2011, when the space shuttle program was canceled due to its high cost.
But nothing terrible happened. Cargoes were regularly delivered into space by other ships. In 2012, a private commercial shuttle even successfully docked to the ISS. Subsequently, a similar event occurred repeatedly.
Threats to the station can only be political. Periodically officials different countries are threatening to stop supporting the ISS. At first, maintenance plans were scheduled until 2015, then until 2020. To date, there is tentatively an agreement to maintain the station until 2027.
In the meantime, politicians are arguing among themselves, the ISS in 2016 made a hundred thousandth orbit around the planet, which was originally called the "Jubilee".
Electricity
Sitting in the dark is, of course, interesting, but sometimes annoying. On the ISS, every minute is worth its weight in gold, so the engineers were deeply puzzled by the need to provide the crew with uninterrupted electrics.
Many different ideas were proposed, and in the end they agreed that nothing could be better than solar panels in space.
When implementing the project, the Russian and American sides took different paths. Thus, the generation of electricity in the first country is produced for a system of 28 volts. The voltage in the American block is 124 V.
During the day, the ISS makes many orbits around the Earth. One revolution is about an hour and a half, forty-five minutes of which pass in the shade. Of course, at this time, the generation from solar panels impossible. The station is powered by nickel-hydrogen batteries. The service life of such a device is about seven years. Last time they were changed back in 2009, so the long-awaited replacement will be carried out by engineers very soon.
Device
As previously written, the ISS is a huge constructor, the parts of which are easily interconnected.
As of March 2017, the station has fourteen elements. Russia has supplied five blocks named Zarya, Poisk, Zvezda, Rassvet and Pirs. The Americans gave their seven parts the following names: "Unity", "Destiny", "Tranquility", "Quest", "Leonardo", "Domes" and "Harmony". The countries of the European Union and Japan so far have one block each: Columbus and Kibo.
Parts are constantly changing depending on the tasks assigned to the crew. Several more blocks are on the way, which will significantly enhance the research capabilities of the crew members. The most interesting, of course, are the laboratory modules. Some of them are completely sealed. Thus, absolutely everything can be explored in them, up to alien living beings, without the risk of infection for the crew.
Other blocks are designed to generate the necessary environments for normal human life. Still others allow you to freely go into space and make research, observations or repairs.
Some of the blocks do not carry a research load and are used as storage facilities.
Ongoing research
Numerous studies - in fact, for the sake of which, in the distant nineties, politicians decided to send a designer into space, the cost of which today is estimated at more than two hundred billion dollars. For this money, you can buy a dozen countries and get a small sea as a gift.
So, the ISS has such unique capabilities that no other terrestrial laboratory has. The first is the presence of an infinite vacuum. The second is the actual absence of gravity. Third - the most dangerous not spoiled by refraction in the earth's atmosphere.
Don't feed researchers with bread, but let them study something! They happily carry out the duties assigned to them, even despite the mortal risk.
Most scientists are interested in biology. This area includes biotechnology and medical research.
Other scientists often forget about sleep when studying physical forces extraterrestrial space. materials, the quantum physics- only part of the research. Favourite hobby according to the revelations of many - to test various liquids in zero gravity.
Experiments with vacuum, in general, can be carried out outside the blocks, right in outer space. Earthly scientists can only envy in a good way, watching the experiments via video link.
Any person on Earth would give anything for one spacewalk. For the workers of the station, this is practically a routine task.
conclusions
Despite the dissatisfied exclamations of many skeptics about the futility of the project, ISS scientists have made a lot of interesting discoveries, which allowed us to look differently at the cosmos as a whole, and at our planet.
Every day these brave people receive a huge dose of radiation, and all for the sake of scientific research that will give humanity unprecedented opportunities. One can only admire their efficiency, courage and purposefulness.
The ISS is a fairly large object that can be seen from the surface of the Earth. There is even a whole site where you can enter the coordinates of your city and the system will tell you exactly at what time you can try to see the station, being in a sun lounger right on your balcony.
Of course, the space station has many opponents, but there are many more fans. And this means that the ISS will confidently stay in its orbit of four hundred kilometers above sea level and will show inveterate skeptics more than once how wrong they were in their forecasts and predictions.
NASA TV and NASA TV's Media Channel
Roscosmos broadcasts
If the page was opened before the start of the live broadcast, and when the time of the live broadcast comes, the video player cannot connect to it, you should reload the page.
Description of video channels
Broadcast from ISS webcams online
The live broadcast is conducted from several NASA webcams located outside and inside the Station. On the second video player sometimes turn on the sound. Short-term interruptions in signal transmission are often observed. When players freeze with online broadcasting, a simple page refresh usually helps.
NASA TV and NASA TV's Media Channel
Broadcast of scientific and information programs on English language, as well as some important events on the ISS online: exits to outer space, video conferencing with the Earth in the language of the participants.
Roscosmos broadcasts
Interesting offline videos, as well as significant events related to the ISS, online: launches of spacecraft, docking and undocking, spacewalks, return of crews to Earth.
Orbit, location and parameters of the ISS
The current position of the International Space Station is indicated on the map by its symbol. The current ISS parameters are displayed in the upper left corner: coordinates, orbit altitude, movement speed, time to sunrise or sunset.
Legend for Station parameters (default units):
- Lat: latitude in degrees;
- lng: longitude in degrees;
- alt: altitude in kilometers;
- V: speed in km/h;
- Time before sunrise or sunset at the Station (on Earth, see the border of chiaroscuro on the map).
The speed in km/h, of course, is impressive, but its value in km/s is more illustrative. To change the speed unit, click on the gears in the upper left corner of the map. In the window that opens, on the top panel, click on the icon with one gear and in the list of options, instead of km/h select km/s. You can also change other map options here.
In total, we see three conditional lines on the map, on one of which there is an icon for the current position of the ISS - this is the current trajectory. The other two lines indicate the next two orbits, over the points of which, located at the same longitude with the current position of the Station, it will fly over, respectively, in 90 and 180 minutes.
The scale of the map is changed with the buttons «+» and «-» in the upper left corner or normal scrolling when the cursor is on the map surface.
What can be seen through the ISS webcams
The American space agency NASA is broadcasting online from the ISS webcams. The image is often transmitted from cameras aimed at the Earth, and during the ISS flight over the daytime zone one can observe clouds, cyclones, anticyclones, in clear weather the earth's surface, the surface of the seas and oceans. Details of the landscape can be clearly seen when the broadcasting webcam is directed vertically to the Earth, but sometimes it can be clearly seen when it is directed to the horizon.
When the ISS flies over the continents in clear weather, river beds, lakes, snow caps on mountain ranges, and the sandy surface of deserts are clearly visible. Islands in the seas and oceans are easier to observe in completely cloudless weather, since from the height of the ISS they can be confused with clouds. It is much easier to detect and observe atoll rings on the surface of the world's oceans, which are clearly visible even with little cloud cover.
When one of the video players broadcasts an image from a webcam aimed vertically at the Earth, pay attention to how the broadcast picture moves in relation to the satellite on the map. So it will be easier to catch individual objects for observation: islands, lakes, riverbeds, mountain ranges, straits.
Sometimes the image is transmitted online from webcams directed inside the Station, then we can observe the American segment of the ISS, the actions of the astronauts, and the experiments being carried out.
When something happens at the Station important events such as dockings, crew changes, spacewalks, live streaming with audio connection. At this time, we can hear the conversations of the crew members of the Station among themselves, with the Mission Control Center or with the relief crew on the ship approaching for docking.
Sometimes sound accompaniment is connected without a reason, including during the disconnection of video communication with the Earth.
The ISS makes a complete revolution around the Earth in 90 minutes, once crossing the night and day zones of the planet. Where is the station in this moment, look at the map with the orbit above.
What can be seen from space in the night zone of the Earth? Sometimes flashes of lightning during thunderstorms. If the webcam is pointed at the horizon, the brightest stars and the Moon are visible.
Webcams on the ISS have a low resolution, so it is impossible to see the lights of night cities through them. The distance from the Station to the Earth is more than 400 kilometers, and without good optics, no lights are visible, except for the most bright stars but it is no longer on Earth.
Watch the International Space Station from Earth. See interesting ones made from the NASA video players presented here.
In between observations of the Earth's surface from space, try to catch and decompose (rather complicated).
Hello, if you have any questions about the International Space Station and how it functions, we will try to answer them.
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Today you will learn about interesting project NASA as ISS online webcam in hd quality. As you already understood, this webcam works live and the video goes directly to the network from the international space station. On the screen above, you can look at the astronauts and a picture of space.
The ISS webcam is installed on the station shell and broadcasts online video around the clock.
I want to remind you that the most grandiose object in space created by us is the International space station. Its location can be observed on tracking, which displays its real position above the surface of our planet. The orbit is displayed in real time on your computer, literally 5-10 years ago this was unimaginable.
The dimensions of the ISS are amazing: length - 51 meters, width - 109 meters, height - 20 meters, and weight - 417.3 tons. The weight changes depending on whether the SOYUZ is docked to it or not, I want to remind you that the Space Shuttle space shuttles no longer fly, their program has been curtailed, and the United States uses our SOYUZS.
Station structure
Animation of the construction process from 1999 to 2010.
The station is built on the principle of a modular structure: the various segments have been designed and built by the efforts of the participating countries. Each module has its own specific function: for example, research, residential, or adapted for storage.
3D model of the station
3D construction animation
As an example, let's take the American Unity modules, which are jumpers and also serve to dock with ships. At the moment, the station consists of 14 main modules. Their total volume is 1000 cubic meters, and the weight is about 417 tons, a crew of 6 or 7 people can be on board at all times.
The station was assembled by sequential docking to the existing complex of the next block or module, which is connected to those already operating in orbit.
If we take information for 2013, then the station includes 14 main modules, of which Russian ones are Poisk, Rassvet, Zarya, Zvezda and Pirs. American segments - Unity, Domes, Leonardo, Tranquility, Destiny, Quest and Harmony, European - Columbus and Japanese - Kibo.
This diagram shows all the main, as well as secondary modules that are part of the station (shaded), and planned for delivery in the future are not filled.
The distance from the Earth to the ISS is between 413-429 km. Periodically, the station is “raised” due to the fact that it is slowly, due to friction against the remnants of the atmosphere, decreasing. At what height it is also depends on other factors, such as space debris.
Earth, bright spots - lightning
The recent blockbuster "Gravity" clearly (albeit slightly exaggerated) showed what can happen in orbit if space debris flies in close proximity. Also, the height of the orbit depends on the influence of the Sun, and other less significant factors.
There is a special service that ensures that the ISS flight altitude is the safest and that the astronauts are not in danger.
There were cases when, due to space debris, it was necessary to change the trajectory, so its height also depends on factors beyond our control. The trajectory is clearly visible on the graphs, it is noticeable how the station crosses the seas and continents, flying literally over our heads.
Orbital speed
Spaceships of the SOYUZ series against the background of the Earth, taken with a long exposure
If you find out how fast the ISS is flying, then you will be horrified, these are truly gigantic numbers for the Earth. Its speed in orbit is 27,700 km/h. To be precise, the speed is more than 100 times faster than a standard production car. It takes 92 minutes to complete one revolution. Astronauts have 16 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hours. The real-time position is monitored by specialists from the Mission Control Center and the Mission Control Center in Houston. If you are watching the broadcast, then keep in mind that the ISS space station periodically flies into the shadow of our planet, so there may be interruptions with the picture.
Statistics and interesting facts
If we take the first 10 years of the station’s operation, then in total it was visited by about 200 people as part of 28 expeditions, this figure is an absolute record for space stations (on our Mir station, “only” 104 people visited before). In addition to occupancy records, the station became the first successful example of commercialization space flights. The Russian space agency Roskosmos, together with American company Space Adventures is the first to deliver space tourists into orbit.
In total, 8 tourists visited space, for whom each flight cost from 20 to 30 million dollars, which, in general, is not so expensive.
According to the most conservative estimates, the number of people who can go to the present space trip numbered in the thousands.
In the future, with mass launches, the cost of the flight will decrease, and the number of applicants will increase. Already in 2014, private companies offer a worthy alternative to such flights - a suborbital shuttle, the flight on which will cost much less, the requirements for tourists are not so strict, and the cost is more affordable. From the height of a suborbital flight (about 100-140 km), our planet will appear before future travelers as an amazing cosmic miracle.
Live broadcast is one of the few interactive astronomical events which we see not in the record, which is very convenient. Remember that the online station is not always available, technical breaks are possible when flying through the shadow zone. It is best to watch video from the ISS from a camera that is aimed at the Earth, when there is still such an opportunity to view our planet from orbit.
Earth from orbit looks truly amazing, not only continents, seas, and cities are visible. Also presented to your attention auroras and huge hurricanes that look truly fantastic from space.
For you to have at least some idea of what the Earth looks like from the ISS, watch the video below.
This video shows the view of the Earth from space and was created from time-lapse images of astronauts. Very high quality video, watch only in 720p quality and with sound. One of the best clips, assembled from images from orbit.
The webcam in real time shows not only what is behind the skin, we can also watch the astronauts at work, for example, unloading SOYUZs or docking them. Live broadcasts can sometimes be interrupted when the channel is congested or there are problems with signal transmission, for example, in relay zones. Therefore, if the broadcast is not possible, then a static NASA splash screen or "blue screen" is shown on the screen.
Station in moonlight, SOYUZ ships are visible against the background of the constellation Orion and auroras
However, take a moment to look at the view from the ISS online. When the crew is resting, users of the global Internet can watch the live broadcast of the starry sky from the ISS through the eyes of astronauts - from a height of 420 km above the planet.
Crew Schedule
To calculate when astronauts are asleep or awake, it must be remembered that space uses coordinated universal time (UTC), which is three hours behind Moscow time in winter, and four hours behind in summer, and, accordingly, the camera on the ISS shows the same time.
Astronauts (or cosmonauts, depending on the crew) are given eight and a half hours of sleep. The rise usually starts at 6.00, and hangs up at 21.30. There are obligatory morning reports to Earth, which begin at about 7.30 - 7.50 (this is on the American segment), at 7.50 - 8.00 (in the Russian segment), and in the evening from 18.30 to 19.00. Astronauts' reports can be heard if the webcam is currently broadcasting this particular communication channel. Sometimes you can hear the broadcast in Russian.
Remember that you are listening and watching a NASA service channel, which was originally intended only for specialists. Everything changed on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the station, and on the ISS the online camera became public. And, until now, the International Space Station is online.
Docking with spaceships
The most exciting moments that the web camera broadcasts occur when our Soyuz, Progress, Japanese and European cargo spacecraft dock, and besides this, cosmonauts and astronauts go into outer space.
A small annoyance is that the congestion of the channel at this moment is huge, hundreds and thousands of people watch video from the ISS, the load on the channel increases, and the live broadcast can be intermittent. This spectacle, sometimes, is truly fantastically exciting!
Flight over the surface of the planet
By the way, if we take into account the regions of the span, as well as the intervals of the station being in areas of shadow or light, we can plan the viewing of the broadcast ourselves according to the graphic diagram at the top of this page.
But if you can only watch a certain amount of time, remember that the webcam is online all the time, so you can always enjoy space scenery. However, it is better to watch it while the astronauts are working or the ship is docking.
Incidents during work
Despite all the precautions at the station, and with the ships that served it, unpleasant situations happened, of the most serious incidents, the Columbia shuttle disaster that occurred on February 1, 2003 can be called. Despite the fact that the shuttle did not dock with the station, and carried out its own independent mission, this tragedy led to the fact that all subsequent space shuttle flights were banned, and this ban was lifted only in July 2005. Because of this, the construction completion time increased, since only Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft could fly to the station, which became the only means of delivering people and various cargoes into orbit.
Also, in 2006, there was a slight smoke in the Russian segment, there was a failure in the operation of computers in 2001 and twice in 2007. The autumn of 2007 turned out to be the most troublesome for the crew. I had to deal with the repair of the solar battery, which broke during installation.
International Space Station (photo taken by amateur astronomers)
Using the data on this page, finding out where the ISS is now is not difficult. The station looks quite bright from Earth, so that it can be seen with the naked eye as a star that moves, and quite quickly, from west to east.
Station shot at long exposure
Some amateur astronomers even manage to get a photo of the ISS from Earth.
These pictures look quite high quality, you can even see docked ships on them, and if astronauts go into outer space, then their figures.
If you are going to observe it through a telescope, then remember that it moves quite quickly, and it is better if you have a go-to guidance system that allows you to track the object without losing sight of it.
Where the station flies now can be seen on the graph above
If you don't know how to see it from the Earth or you don't have a telescope, this video broadcast is available for free and around the clock!
Information provided by the European Space Agency
According to this interactive scheme, it is possible to calculate the observation of the passage of the station. If the weather is good and there are no clouds, then you will be able to see for yourself the charming gliding, the station which is the pinnacle of the progress of our civilization.
You just need to remember that the orbital inclination angle of the station is approximately 51 degrees, it flies over such cities as Voronezh, Saratov, Kursk, Orenburg, Astana, Komsomolsk-on-Amur). The further north you live from this line, the conditions for seeing it with your own eyes will be worse or even impossible. In fact, you can only see it above the horizon in the southern part of the sky.
If we take the latitude of Moscow, then the most the best time for its observation - a trajectory that will be slightly higher than 40 degrees above the horizon, this is after sunset and before sunrise.
The idea of creating an international space station arose in the early 1990s. The project became international when Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency joined the US. In December 1993, the United States, together with other countries participating in the creation of the Alpha space station, offered Russia to become a partner in this project. Russian government accepted the offer, after which some experts began to call the project "Ralpha", that is, "Russian Alpha", - recalls NASA public relations representative Ellen Kline.
Experts estimate that the construction of Alfa-R can be completed by 2002 and will cost about $17.5 billion. "It's very cheap," said NASA chief Daniel Goldin. - If we worked alone, the costs would be high. And so, thanks to cooperation with the Russians, we get not only political, but also material benefits ... "
It was finances, or rather their lack, that forced NASA to look for partners. The original project - it was called "Freedom" - was very grandiose. It was assumed that at the station it would be possible to repair satellites and entire spacecraft, study the functioning of the human body during a long stay in weightlessness, conduct astronomical research, and even establish production.
The Americans were also attracted by the unique methods, on which millions of rubles and years of work of Soviet scientists and engineers were put. Having worked in the same "team" with the Russians, they also received a fairly complete understanding of Russian methods, technologies, etc., related to long-term orbital stations. It's hard to estimate how many billions of dollars they're worth.
The Americans have made for the station a scientific laboratory, a residential module, docking blocks "Node-1" and "Node-2". The Russian side developed and delivered a functional cargo block, a universal docking module, transport supply ships, a service module and a Proton launch vehicle.
Most of the work was carried out by the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center. central part station became a functional cargo unit, similar in size and basic structural elements to the Kvant-2 and Kristall modules of the Mir station. Its diameter is 4 meters, length - 13 meters, weight - more than 19 tons. The block serves as a home for the astronauts during the initial period of the station's assembly, as well as for providing it with electricity from solar panels and storing fuel supplies for propulsion systems. The service module was created on the basis of the central part of the Mir-2 station developed in the 1980s. Astronauts live in it permanently and conduct experiments.
Members of the European Space Agency have developed the Columbus laboratory and an automatic transport vehicle for a launch vehicle
"Ariane-5", Canada delivered a mobile service system, Japan - an experimental module.
The assembly of the International Space Station required approximately 28 American Space Shuttle flights, 17 Russian launches, and one Ariana-5 launch. The crews and equipment were to be delivered to the station by 29 Russian Soyuz-TM and Progress spacecraft.
The total internal volume of the station after its assembly in orbit was 1217 square meters, weight - 377 tons, of which 140 tons are Russian components, 37 tons are American. The estimated operating time of the international station is 15 years.
Due to the financial woes that plagued the Russian Aerospace Agency, the construction of the ISS got off schedule by as much as two years. But finally, on July 20, 1998, from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Proton launch vehicle launched the Zarya functional unit, the first element of the international space station, into orbit. And on July 26, 2000, our Zvezda connected with the ISS.
This day went down in the history of its creation as one of the most important. At the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and at the Russian Mission Control Center in the city of Korolev, the hands on the clock show different time, but the applause in them burst out at the same time.
Until that time, the ISS was a set of lifeless building blocks, Zvezda breathed a “soul” into it: a habitable and long-term fruitful work appeared in orbit scientific laboratory. It is fundamentally new stage a grandiose international experiment involving 16 countries.
"Now the gates are open to continue construction of the International Space Station," said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring with satisfaction. At the moment, the ISS consists of three elements - the Zvezda service module and the Zarya functional cargo block, created by Russia, as well as the Unity docking port, built by the United States. With the docking of the new module, the station not only grew noticeably, but also became heavier, as far as possible in zero gravity, gaining a total of about 60 tons.
After that, a kind of rod was assembled in near-Earth orbit, on which more and more new structural elements could be “strung”. "Star" is the cornerstone of the entire future space structure, comparable in size to a city block. Scientists claim that a fully assembled station in terms of brightness will be the third object in the starry sky - after the Moon and Venus. It can be observed even with the naked eye.
The $340 million Russian bloc is the key element that ensures the transition from quantity to quality. "Star" is the "brain" of the ISS. The Russian module is not only the place of residence of the first crews of the station. Zvezda carries a powerful central on-board computer and communications equipment, a life support system and a propulsion system that will provide the ISS orientation and orbit altitude. Henceforth, all crews arriving on the Shuttle during work on board the station will no longer rely on the systems of the American spaceship, but on the life support of the ISS itself. And the Star guarantees it.
“The docking of the Russian module and the station took place approximately at an altitude of 370 kilometers above the surface of the planet,” Vladimir Rogachev writes in the Echo of the Planet magazine. - At this moment, the spacecraft raced at a speed of about 27 thousand kilometers per hour. The operation was worth top marks experts, in Once again confirming the reliability Russian technology and the highest professionalism its creators. As Sergei Kulik, a representative of Rosaviakosmos, who is in Houston, stressed in a telephone conversation with me, both American and Russian specialists were well aware that they were witnesses historical event. My interlocutor also noted that specialists from the European Space Agency, who created the Zvezda central on-board computer, also made an important contribution to ensuring docking.
Then Sergey Krikalev picked up the phone. As part of the first long-stay crew starting from Baikonur at the end of October, he will have to settle in the ISS. Sergei noted that everyone in Houston was waiting for the moment of contact with the spacecraft with great tension. Moreover, after the automatic docking mode was turned on, very little could be done “from the side”. The accomplished event, the cosmonaut explained, opens the prospect for the deployment of work on the ISS and the continuation of the manned flight program. In essence, this is “..the continuation of the Soyuz-Apollo program, the 25th anniversary of the completion of which is celebrated these days. The Russians have already flown on the Shuttle, the Americans on the Mir, and now a new stage is beginning.”
Maria Ivatsevich, representing the Research and Production Space Center named after M.V. Khrunicheva, especially noted that the docking, which was completed without any failures and remarks, "became the most serious, key stage of the program."
The result was summed up by the commander of the first planned long-term expedition to the ISS, American William Sheppard. “Obviously, the torch of competition has now passed from Russia to the United States and other partners international project, - he said. “We are ready to take on this load, realizing that it is up to us to maintain the station’s construction schedule.”
In March 2001, the ISS was nearly hit by space debris. It is noteworthy that it could be rammed by a part from the station itself, which was lost during a spacewalk by astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms. As a result of the maneuver, the ISS managed to avoid the collision.
For the ISS, this was not the first threat posed by debris flying in outer space. In June 1999, when the station was still uninhabited, there was a threat of its collision with a fragment of the upper stage of a space rocket. Then the specialists Russian Center flight control, in the city of Korolev, managed to give the command to maneuver. As a result, the fragment flew past at a distance of 6.5 kilometers, which is minuscule by space standards.
Now the American Mission Control Center in Houston has demonstrated its ability to act in a critical situation. After receiving information from the Tracking Center for outer space about the movement in orbit in the immediate vicinity of the ISS of space debris, the Houston specialists immediately gave the command to turn on the engines of the Discovery spacecraft docked to the ISS. As a result, the orbit of the stations was raised by four kilometers.
If it had not been possible to perform the maneuver, then the flying part could damage, first of all, the solar panels of the station in the event of a collision. The body of the ISS cannot penetrate such a fragment: each of its modules is reliably covered by anti-meteorite protection.
The International Space Station is a manned orbital station of the Earth, the fruit of the work of fifteen countries of the world, hundreds of billions of dollars and a dozen service personnel in the form of astronauts and cosmonauts who regularly go on board the ISS. The International Space Station is such a symbolic outpost of mankind in space, the farthest point of permanent residence of people in vacuum space (while there are no colonies on Mars, of course). The ISS was launched in 1998 as a sign of reconciliation between countries that tried to develop their own orbital stations (and this was, but not for long) during cold war, and will run until 2024 if nothing changes. On board the ISS, experiments are regularly carried out, which give their fruits, which are undoubtedly significant for science and space exploration.
Last night, a gap was discovered in the domestic compartment of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station. The air pressure dropped slightly, so there was no reason to worry. Most likely, the leak on board the Soyuz occurred on the night of August 30 due to a micrometeorite hit. A day later, the leak was eliminated, a control check will be carried out on the morning of August 31.
