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Russian Orbital Segment

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76-625: The Russian Orbital Segment ( ROS ) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Roscosmos . The ROS handles Guidance, Navigation, and Control for the entire Station. The segment currently consists of six modules, which together essentially comprise the base configuration of the cancelled Russian space station Mir -2 . The segment

152-572: A Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. Zarya provided propulsion, attitude control , communications, and electrical power. Two weeks later on 4 December 1998, the American-made Unity was ferried aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88 and joined with Zarya . Unity provided the connection between the Russian and US segments of the station and would provide ports to connect future modules and visiting spacecraft. While

228-690: A virtual reality exhibit called The Infinite featuring life aboard the ISS was announced. The International Space Station is a product of global collaboration, with its components manufactured across the world. The modules of the Russian Orbital Segment , including Zarya and Zvezda , were produced at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow. Zvezda was initially manufactured in 1985 as

304-475: A "shorter version" of MARS-500 may be carried out on the ISS. In 2009, noting the value of the partnership framework itself, Sergey Krasnov wrote, "When compared with partners acting separately, partners developing complementary abilities and resources could give us much more assurance of the success and safety of space exploration. The ISS is helping further advance near-Earth space exploration and realisation of prospective programmes of research and exploration of

380-777: A component for the Mir-2 space station, which was never launched. Much of the US Orbital Segment , including the Destiny and Unity modules, the Integrated Truss Structure , and solar arrays , were built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans . These components underwent final assembly and processing for launch at

456-554: A dozen Japanese universities conducted experiments in diverse fields. Cultural activities are another major objective of the ISS programme. Tetsuo Tanaka, the director of JAXA's Space Environment and Utilization Center, has said: "There is something about space that touches even people who are not interested in science." Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) is a volunteer programme that encourages students worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, through amateur radio communications opportunities with

532-657: A further derivation of the then classified Skif laser system/Polyus satellite. Commentators in the West thought that the Zarya module was constructed more cheaply and lifted to orbit faster than should have been possible in the post-Soviet era, and that the FGB might have been largely constructed from mothballed hardware from the Skif laser program (which had been canceled after the failed 1987 Polyus launch). The research and development of

608-650: A lengthy interplanetary cruise, such as the six-month interval required to travel to Mars . Medical studies are conducted aboard the ISS on behalf of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers

684-481: A location in the relative safety of low Earth orbit to test spacecraft systems that will be required for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. This provides experience in operations, maintenance, and repair and replacement activities on-orbit. This will help develop essential skills in operating spacecraft farther from Earth, reduce mission risks, and advance the capabilities of interplanetary spacecraft. Referring to

760-558: A mass of 19,323 kilograms (42,600 lb), is 12.56 meters (41.2 ft) long and 4.11 meters (13.5 ft) wide at its widest point. The module has three docking ports : one axially on the front end at the docking sphere, one on the Earth-facing side ( nadir ) of the docking sphere and one axially on the aft end. Attached to the forward port is the Pressurized Mating Adapter PMA-1 , which in turn

836-555: A series of education guides, students develop a deeper understanding of the past and near-term future of crewed space flight, as well as that of Earth and life. In the JAXA "Seeds in Space" experiments, the mutation effects of spaceflight on plant seeds aboard the ISS are explored by growing sunflower seeds that have flown on the ISS for about nine months. In the first phase of Kibō utilisation from 2008 to mid-2010, researchers from more than

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912-540: A similar design was paid for by Russia and the Soviet Union; the design of the module and all systems are Soviet/Russian. The United States funded Zarya through the U.S. prime contracts in the 1990s as the first module for ISS, and it was built from December 1994 to January 1998 in Russia at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (KhSC) in Moscow. The module was included as part of NASA's plan for

988-519: A third set of arrays were delivered on STS-116 , STS-117 , and STS-118 . As a result of the major expansion of the station's power-generating capabilities, more modules could be accommodated, and the US Harmony module and Columbus European laboratory were added. These were soon followed by the first two components of the Japanese Kibō laboratory. In March 2009, STS-119 completed

1064-445: A wide range of free teaching materials that can be downloaded for use in classrooms. In one lesson, students can navigate a 3D model of the interior and exterior of the ISS, and face spontaneous challenges to solve in real time. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to inspire children to "pursue craftsmanship" and to heighten their "awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society". Through

1140-402: Is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada). The ISS is the largest space station ever built. Its primary purpose is to perform microgravity and space environment experiments. Operationally,

1216-431: Is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on Earth. Other areas of interest include the effect of low gravity on combustion, through the study of the efficiency of burning and control of emissions and pollutants. These findings may improve knowledge about energy production and lead to economic and environmental benefits. The ISS provides

1292-660: Is connected to the Unity Module – this is the connection between the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the US Orbital Segment (USOS). Attached to the aft port is the Zvezda Service Module . The lower port (nadir) was initially used by visiting Soyuz spacecraft and Progress spacecraft to dock to the ROS; The Rassvet module is now docked semipermanently on the nadir port of Zarya , and visiting spacecraft use Rassvet 's nadir docking port instead. It

1368-566: Is controlled directly from Roskosmos's Mission Control Center in Moscow . The six modules are (in order of launch): The first module, Zarya , otherwise known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB, was the first component of the ISS to be launched, and provided the early station configuration with electrical power, storage, propulsion, and navigation guidance, until a short time after the Russian service module Zvezda docked and

1444-575: Is highly resistant to environmental hazards , were found to survive for three years in outer space , based on studies conducted on the International Space Station. These findings supported the notion of panspermia , the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe , distributed in various ways, including space dust , meteoroids , asteroids , comets , planetoids or contaminated spacecraft . Remote sensing of

1520-534: Is intended to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe. According to NASA, the AMS is as important as the Hubble Space Telescope . Currently docked on station, it could not have been easily accommodated on a free flying satellite platform because of its power and bandwidth needs. On 3 April 2013, scientists reported that hints of dark matter may have been detected by

1596-501: Is likely to be a global effort." Currently, US federal legislation prevents NASA co-operation with China on space projects without approval by the FBI and Congress. The ISS crew provides opportunities for students on Earth by running student-developed experiments, making educational demonstrations, allowing for student participation in classroom versions of ISS experiments, and directly engaging students using radio, and email. ESA offers

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1672-418: Is the station's Service Module - it provides a living environment for the crew, contains the ISS's main engine system, and provides a docking port for Soyuz, Progress and Automated Transfer Vehicle spacecraft. The fourth module to be launched, Poisk , is similar to Pirs . Redundancy in airlocks allowed one airlock to be repaired internally and externally whilst crew use the other airlock to exit and re-enter

1748-532: The Functional Cargo Block (Russian: Функционально-грузовой блок ), is the inaugural component of the International Space Station (ISS). Launched on 20 November 1998 atop a Proton-K rocket, the module would serve as the ISS's primary source of power, propulsion, and guidance during its early years. As the station has grown, Zarya ' s role has transitioned primarily to storage, both internally and in its external fuel tanks. A descendant of

1824-619: The Prichal module, docked in November 2021. As of November 2021, the station consists of 18 pressurised modules (including airlocks) and the Integrated Truss Structure. The ISS functions as a modular space station, enabling the addition or removal of modules from its structure for increased adaptability. Zarya (ISS module) Zarya ( Russian : Заря , lit.   'Sunrise' ), also known as

1900-510: The Canadarm2 and Dextre , a joint Canadian-U.S. endeavor. All of these components were shipped to the SSPF for launch processing. The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture , began in November 1998. Modules in the Russian segment launched and docked autonomously, with the exception of Rassvet . Other modules and components were delivered by

1976-581: The Columbus programme, the most ambitious effort in space undertaken by that organization at the time. The plan spearheaded by Germany and Italy included a module which would be attached to Freedom , and with the capability to evolve into a full-fledged European orbital outpost before the end of the century. Increasing costs threw these plans into doubt in the early 1990s. Congress was unwilling to provide enough money to build and operate Freedom , and demanded NASA increase international participation to defray

2052-537: The MARS-500 experiment, a crew isolation experiment conducted on Earth, ESA states, "Whereas the ISS is essential for answering questions concerning the possible impact of weightlessness, radiation and other space-specific factors, aspects such as the effect of long-term isolation and confinement can be more appropriately addressed via ground-based simulations". Sergey Krasnov, the head of human space flight programmes for Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, in 2011 suggested

2128-577: The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) , and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer . Gravity at the altitude of the ISS is approximately 90% as strong as at Earth's surface, but objects in orbit are in a continuous state of freefall , resulting in an apparent state of weightlessness . This perceived weightlessness is disturbed by five effects: Researchers are investigating the effect of the station's near-weightless environment on

2204-1034: The Operations and Checkout Building and the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The US Orbital Segment also hosts the Columbus module contributed by the European Space Agency and built in Germany, the Kibō module contributed by Japan and built at the Tsukuba Space Center and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science , along with

2280-543: The Space Shuttle , which then had to be installed by astronauts either remotely using robotic arms or during spacewalks, more formally known as extra-vehicular activities (EVAs). By 5 June 2011 astronauts had made over 159 EVAs to add components to the station, totaling more than 1,000 hours in space. The foundation for the ISS was laid with the launch of the Russian-built Zarya module atop

2356-677: The TKS spacecraft used in the Salyut programme , Zarya was built in Russia but its construction was financed by the United States. Its name, meaning "sunrise," symbolizes the beginning of a new era of international space cooperation. The Zarya design was originally intended as a module for the Russian Mir space station, but was not flown as of the end of the Mir program. A FGB cargo block

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2432-407: The 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project , the first docking of spacecraft from two different spacefaring nations. The ASTP was considered a success, and further joint missions were also contemplated. One such concept was International Skylab, which proposed launching the backup Skylab B space station for a mission that would see multiple visits by both Apollo and Soyuz crew vehicles. More ambitious

2508-785: The AMS. According to the scientists, "The first results from the space-borne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer confirm an unexplained excess of high-energy positrons in Earth-bound cosmic rays". The space environment is hostile to life. Unprotected presence in space is characterised by an intense radiation field (consisting primarily of protons and other subatomic charged particles from the solar wind , in addition to cosmic rays ), high vacuum, extreme temperatures, and microgravity. Some simple forms of life called extremophiles , as well as small invertebrates called tardigrades can survive in this environment in an extremely dry state through desiccation . Medical research improves knowledge about

2584-526: The Earth, astronomy, and deep space research on the ISS have significantly increased during the 2010s after the completion of the US Orbital Segment in 2011. Throughout the more than 20 years of the ISS program, researchers aboard the ISS and on the ground have examined aerosols , ozone , lightning , and oxides in Earth's atmosphere, as well as the Sun , cosmic rays, cosmic dust , antimatter , and dark matter in

2660-480: The FGB had to be capable of independent propellant storage and transfer from Progress spacecraft even without Zvezda ). Zarya also has 24 large steering jets, 12 small steering jets, and two large engines that were used for reboost and major orbital changes; with the docking of Zvezda these are now permanently disabled. Since they are no longer needed for Zarya 's engines, Zarya's propellant tanks are now used to store additional fuel for Zvezda . Zarya

2736-468: The ISS crew. ARISS is an international working group, consisting of delegations from nine countries including several in Europe, as well as Japan, Russia, Canada, and the United States. In areas where radio equipment cannot be used, speakerphones connect students to ground stations which then connect the calls to the space station. First Orbit is a 2011 feature-length documentary film about Vostok 1 ,

2812-492: The ISS launch manifest schedule. Continued international collaboration relating to the ISS has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia. Due to the different orbit from ISS, the future Russian Orbital Service Station is planned to be a completely new space station, without inheriting any module from the Russian Orbital Segment or adding new modules to

2888-606: The ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers. The ISS simplifies individual experiments by allowing groups of experiments to share

2964-516: The ISS. In such a case, the planned characteristics of the ISS's Prichal module will be of no use and an identical node module will then be constructed for the ROSS station. The NEM-1 and 2 will be repurposed and flown directly to the new space station. The Oka-T-MKS was a planned companion module to the ISS. Reported as of December 2012 to be under construction, its development has been significantly delayed. The module would be free-floating most of

3040-734: The Integrated Truss Structure with the installation of the fourth and final set of solar arrays. The final section of Kibō was delivered in July 2009 on STS-127 , followed by the Russian Poisk module. The US Tranquility module was delivered in February 2010 during STS-130 , alongside the Cupola , followed by the penultimate Russian module, Rassvet , in May 2010. Rassvet was delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-132 in exchange for

3116-544: The International Space Station (ISS) instead of Lockheed Martin 's "Bus-1" option because it was significantly cheaper ( US$ 220 million vs. $ 450 million). As part of the contract, Khrunichev constructed much of an identical module (referred to as "FGB-2") for contingency purposes. FGB-2 was proposed to be used for a variety of projects; it has been used to construct the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka . Zarya has

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3192-567: The P1/S1 radiators of the Integrated Truss Structure could deploy. They are still generating some power, but not the average 3 kilowatts (4.0 hp) of power, they once provided when they were fully unfurled. Zarya has 16 external fuel tanks that can hold up to 6.1 tonnes (13,000 lb) of propellant (this requirement was mandated by NASA in early 1997 over concerns that the Zvezda Service Module would be further delayed, hence

3268-558: The ROS's airlock, storing EVA spacesuits and providing the equipment necessary for cosmonauts to exit the space station. It also served as a docking compartment for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. It was decommissioned and undocked by Progress MS-16 on 26 July 2021, and burned up in the atmosphere, to make way for the Nauka module. On 17 June 2009, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) presented to NASA and

3344-684: The Russian Proton delivery of the US-funded Zarya module in 1998. The last pressurised module of the USOS, Leonardo , was brought to the station in February 2011 on the final flight of Discovery , STS-133 . Russia's new primary research module Nauka docked in July 2021, along with the European Robotic Arm which can relocate itself to different parts of the Russian modules of the station. Russia's latest addition,

3420-619: The Russian Salyut program. 5.4 tons of propellant fuel can be stored and transferred automatically to and from ships docked. Zarya was originally intended as a module for the Russian Mir space station, but was not flown as of the end of the Mir-1 program. Developed by Russia and the former Soviet Union, construction of Zarya was funded by the United States and NASA, and Zarya remains a US-owned module. The second module, Zvezda ,

3496-485: The Russian State Archive. Nespoli is credited as the director of photography for this documentary film, as he recorded the majority of the footage himself during Expedition 26 / 27 . The film was streamed in a global YouTube premiere in 2011 under a free licence through the website firstorbit.org . In May 2013, commander Chris Hadfield shot a music video of David Bowie 's " Space Oddity " on board

3572-694: The Salyut and Mir space stations. In 1984 the ESA was invited to participate in Space Station Freedom , and the ESA approved the Columbus laboratory by 1987. The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), or Kibō , was announced in 1985, as part of the Freedom space station in response to a NASA request in 1982. In early 1985, science ministers from the European Space Agency (ESA) countries approved

3648-500: The Solar system, including the Moon and Mars." A crewed mission to Mars may be a multinational effort involving space agencies and countries outside the current ISS partnership. In 2010, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain stated his agency was ready to propose to the other four partners that China, India, and South Korea be invited to join the ISS partnership. NASA chief Charles Bolden stated in February 2011, "Any mission to Mars

3724-454: The Soviet Union. The first ISS module was launched in 1998. Major modules have been launched by Proton and Soyuz rockets and by the Space Shuttle launch system. The first long-term residents, Expedition 1 , arrived on 2 November 2000. Since then, the station has been continuously occupied for 24 years and 26 days, the longest continuous human presence in space. As of March 2024 , 279 individuals from 22 countries have visited

3800-539: The connection of two modules built on different continents, by nations that were once bitter rivals was a significant milestone, these two initial modules lacked life support systems and the ISS remained unmanned for the next two years. At the time, the Russian station Mir was still inhabited. The turning point arrived in July 2000 with the launch of the Zvezda module. Equipped with living quarters and life-support systems, Zvezda enabled continuous human presence aboard

3876-461: The diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult. In August 2020, scientists reported that bacteria from Earth, particularly Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria, which

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3952-405: The effects of long-term space exposure on the human body, including muscle atrophy , bone loss , and fluid shift. These data will be used to determine whether high duration human spaceflight and space colonisation are feasible. In 2006, data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggested that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after

4028-682: The evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of the data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity 's effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space. Investigating the physics of fluids in microgravity will provide better models of the behaviour of fluids. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. Examining reactions that are slowed by low gravity and low temperatures will improve our understanding of superconductivity . The study of materials science

4104-431: The first crewed space flight around the Earth. By matching the orbit of the ISS to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight. This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from

4180-475: The late 1990s. It occupies the former location of Pirs on Zvezda's nadir port. The seventh module to be launched, Prichal also known as Uzlovoy Module is a nodal module that has a pressurized spherical ball-shaped design with six hybrid docking ports. It is attached to the nadir port of the Nauka module. Pirs , launched on 14 September 2001, was the third module of the ROS to be launched. It functioned as

4256-640: The other ISS partners a proposal to add additional modules to the Russian segment to ensure its viability past 2016 or even 2020. It was planned that the two larger modules, nominally referred to as NEM 1 and 2, would be lifted to orbit via Angara A5 launchers in the mid-2020s and would be attached to the port and starboard sides of the Nodal Module, leaving its aft docking port accessible for possible future expandability or using it for commercial vehicles like Crew Dragon via an International Docking Adapter attached on top of this port and its nadir port accessible for docking by Soyuz or Progress spacecraft. Because of

4332-416: The proximity of the Nodal Module to the planned attachment point of MRM-1 on the nadir docking port of Zarya FGB to facilitate docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, the module's forward-facing port will be unusable. As of January  2021, neither Roscosmos nor NASA have provided further details of these modules or verification that they have been officially funded by the Russian government or added to

4408-499: The rising costs or they would cancel the entire project outright. Simultaneously, the USSR was conducting planning for the Mir-2 space station, and had begun constructing modules for the new station by the mid-1980s. However the collapse of the Soviet Union required these plans to be greatly downscaled, and soon Mir-2 was in danger of never being launched at all. With both space station projects in jeopardy, American and Russian officials met and proposed they be combined. The ISS

4484-412: The routinely scheduled launches of resupply craft allows new hardware to be launched with relative ease. Crews fly expeditions of several months' duration, providing approximately 160 person-hours per week of labour with a crew of six. However, a considerable amount of crew time is taken up by station maintenance. Perhaps the most notable ISS experiment is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which

4560-420: The same launches and crew time. Research is conducted in a wide variety of fields, including astrobiology , astronomy , physical sciences , materials science , space weather , meteorology , and human research including space medicine and the life sciences . Scientists on Earth have timely access to the data and can suggest experimental modifications to the crew. If follow-on experiments are necessary,

4636-401: The space station. The ISS is expected to have additional modules (the Axiom Orbital Segment , for example) and will be in service until the end of 2030, after which it is planned to be de-orbited by a dedicated NASA spacecraft. As the space race drew to a close in the early 1970s, the US and USSR began to contemplate a variety of potential collaborations in outer space. This culminated in

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4712-475: The station is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) assembled by Roscosmos, and the US Orbital Segment (USOS), assembled by NASA, JAXA, ESA and CSA. A striking feature of the ISS is the Integrated Truss Structure , which connects the large solar panels and radiators to the pressurized modules. The pressurized modules are specialized for research, habitation, storage, spacecraft control, and airlock functions. Visiting spacecraft dock at

4788-404: The station via its eight docking and berthing ports . The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) and circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day. The ISS programme combines two prior plans to construct crewed Earth-orbiting stations: Space Station Freedom planned by the United States, and the Mir-2 station, planned by

4864-415: The station with Ku band communications, additional attitude control needed for the additional mass of the USOS, and additional solar arrays. Over the next two years, the station continued to expand. A Soyuz-U rocket delivered the Pirs docking compartment . The Space Shuttles Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour delivered the American Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock , in addition to

4940-424: The station's main robot arm, the Canadarm2 , and several more segments of the Integrated Truss Structure. Tragedy struck in 2003 with the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia , which grounded the rest of the Shuttle fleet, halting construction of the ISS. Assembly resumed in 2006 with the arrival of STS-115 with Atlantis , which delivered the station's second set of solar arrays. Several more truss segments and

5016-404: The station, which was released on YouTube. It was the first music video filmed in space. In November 2017, while participating in Expedition 52 / 53 on the ISS, Paolo Nespoli made two recordings of his spoken voice (one in English and the other in his native Italian), for use on Misplaced Pages articles. These were the first content made in space specifically for Misplaced Pages. In November 2021,

5092-481: The station. The fifth module to be launched, Rassvet , is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. The sixth module to be launched, Nauka , also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, is the main laboratory space of the ROS. A backup flight article for FGB-based Zarya , known in production as FGB-2, was originally planned to serve as the Universal Docking Module, though its construction had been halted at 70% completion in

5168-409: The station. The first crew, Expedition 1 , arrived that November aboard Soyuz TM-31 . The ISS grew steadily over the following years, with modules delivered by both Russian rockets and the Space Shuttle. Expedition 1 arrived midway between the Space Shuttle flights of missions STS-92 and STS-97 . These two flights each added segments of the station's Integrated Truss Structure , which provided

5244-528: The time as an autonomous orbital space laboratory for the conduction of experiments, and dock with the ISS for experiment maintenance about every 180 days. The Oka-T-MKS space laboratory was contracted to Energia by Roscosmos in 2012. Originally projected for a 2015 launch date, this has been pushed back indefinitely and some evidence suggests that, unable to locate significant development partnerships, its development has been abandoned. International Space Station The International Space Station ( ISS )

5320-406: The universe. Examples of Earth-viewing remote sensing experiments that have flown on the ISS are the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 , ISS-RapidScat , ECOSTRESS , the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation , and the Cloud Aerosol Transport System . ISS-based astronomy telescopes and experiments include SOLAR , the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer , the Calorimetric Electron Telescope ,

5396-404: Was incorporated as an upper stage engine into the Polyus spacecraft, flown (unsuccessfully) on the first Energia launch. With the end of the Mir program, the design was adapted to use for the International Space Station. The Zarya module is capable of station keeping and provides sizable battery power; it was suggested to have initially been built to both power and control the recoil from

5472-544: Was launched on 20 November 1998 on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 in Kazakhstan to a 400 km (250 mi) high orbit with a designed lifetime of at least 15 years. After Zarya reached orbit, STS-88 launched on 4 December 1998 to attach the Unity module . Although only designed to fly autonomously for six to eight months, Zarya was required to do so for almost two years due to delays to

5548-401: Was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have been realised. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy ,

5624-405: Was planned to install another zenith docking port in the docking sphere, however, after the design was changed, a spherical cover was welded in its place. Zarya has two solar arrays measuring 10.67 by 3.35 meters (35.0 by 11.0 ft) and six nickel-cadmium batteries that can provide an average of 3 kilowatts (4.0 hp) of power – the solar arrays have been however partially retracted so

5700-550: Was the Skylab-Salyut Space Laboratory, which proposed docking the Skylab B to a Soviet Salyut space station. Falling budgets and rising Cold War tensions in the late 1970s saw these concepts fall by the wayside, along with another plan to have the Space Shuttle dock with a Salyut space station. In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom as a counterpart to

5776-586: Was transferred control. Zvezda contains the ESA built DMS-R Data Management System. Now primarily used for storage, Zarya provides ports for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and the European ATV to dock to the station. Ships boosting the station's orbit dock to the aft port (the rear port according to the station's normal orientation and direction of travel). The FGB is a descendant of the TKS spacecraft designed for

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