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How much does a microsecond weigh. ISS (International Space Station) - summary information. Research in the American segment

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 maintenance personnel in the form of astronauts and cosmonauts who regularly board the ISS. The International Space Station is such a symbolic outpost of humanity in space, the farthest point of permanent residence of people in airless space (there are no colonies on Mars yet, 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 work until 2024 if nothing changes. Experiments are regularly carried out on board the ISS, which give their undoubtedly significant fruits for science and space exploration.

A breach was discovered last night in the utility 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 in the morning of August 31.

The ISS is the successor to the MIR station, the largest and most expensive object in the history of mankind.

How big is an orbital station? How much does it cost? How do astronauts live and work on it?

We will talk about this in this article.

What is the ISS and who owns it

The International Space Station (MKS) is an orbital station used as a multipurpose space complex.

This is a scientific project in which 14 countries are participating:

  • Russian Federation;
  • USA;
  • France;
  • Germany;
  • Belgium;
  • Japan;
  • Canada;
  • Sweden;
  • Spain;
  • Netherlands;
  • Switzerland;
  • Denmark;
  • Norway;
  • Italy.

In 1998, the creation of the ISS began. Then the first module of the Russian Proton-K rocket was launched. Subsequently, other participating countries began to deliver other modules to the station.

Note: in English ISS is written as ISS (transcript: International Space Station).

There are people who are convinced that the ISS does not exist, and all space flights were filmed on Earth. However, the reality of the manned station was proven, and the theory of deception was completely refuted by scientists.

The structure and dimensions of the international space station

The ISS is a huge laboratory dedicated to the study of our planet. At the same time, the station is home to the astronauts working in it.

The station is 109 meters long, 73.15 meters wide and 27.4 meters high. The total weight of the ISS is 417,289 kg.

How much is an orbital station

The cost of the facility is estimated at $ 150 billion. This is by far the most expensive development in human history.

Orbital altitude and flight speed of the ISS

The average altitude at which the station is located is 384.7 km.

The speed is 27,700 km / h. The station makes a complete revolution around the Earth in 92 minutes.

Station time and crew working hours

The station operates London time, the astronauts start their working day at 6 am. At this time, each crew establishes contact with their country.

Crew reports can be listened to online. The working day ends at 19:00 London time .

Flight path

The station moves around the planet along a certain trajectory. There is a special map that shows which part of the way the ship is passing at a given time. Also, this map shows different parameters - time, speed, altitude, latitude and longitude.

Why doesn't the ISS fall to Earth? In fact, the object falls to Earth, but misses, as it is constantly moving at a certain speed. It is required to regularly raise the trajectory. As soon as the station loses some of its speed, it gets closer and closer to the Earth.

What is the temperature outside the ISS

The temperature is constantly changing and directly depends on the cut-off situation. In the shade, it stays at about -150 degrees Celsius.

If the station is located under the influence of direct sunlight, then the temperature overboard is +150 degrees Celsius.

Temperature inside the station

Despite fluctuations overboard, the average temperature inside the ship is 23 - 27 degrees Celsius and is completely suitable for human habitation.

Astronauts sleep, eat, play sports, work and rest at the end of the working day - the conditions are close to the most comfortable for being on the ISS.

What astronauts breathe on the ISS

The primary task in the creation of the spacecraft was to provide the cosmonauts with the conditions necessary to maintain full breathing. Oxygen is obtained from water.

A special system called "Air" takes carbon dioxide and throws it overboard. Oxygen is replenished by electrolysis of water. The station also has oxygen cylinders.

How long to fly from the cosmodrome to the ISS

The flight takes just over 2 days. There is also a short 6-hour schedule (but not suitable for cargo ships).

The distance from the Earth to the ISS ranges from 413 to 429 kilometers.

Life on the ISS - what astronauts do

Each crew conducts scientific experiments ordered from the research institutes of their country.

There are several types of such studies:

  • educational;
  • technical;
  • ecological;
  • biotechnology;
  • biomedical;
  • research of living and working conditions in orbit;
  • exploration of space and planet Earth;
  • physical and chemical processes in space;
  • study solar system other.

Who is on the ISS now

V currently in orbit continue to keep watch composition: Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev, Serena Aunyon-Chancellor from the USA and Alexander Gerst from Germany.

The next launch was scheduled from the Baikonur cosmodrome on October 11, but due to an accident, the flight did not take place. At the moment, it is not yet known which of the astronauts will fly to the ISS and when.

How to get in touch with the ISS

In fact, anyone has a chance to contact the International Space Station. This requires special equipment:

  • transceiver;
  • antenna (for the frequency range 145 MHz);
  • rotary device;
  • a computer that calculates the orbit of the ISS.

Today, every astronaut has a high-speed Internet connection. Most specialists contact friends and family via Skype, maintain personal pages on Instagram and Twitter, Facebook, where they post stunningly beautiful photos of our green planet.

How many times the ISS orbits the Earth per day

The speed of rotation of the ship around our planet - 16 times a day... This means that in one day, astronauts can meet the sunrise 16 times and watch the sunset 16 times.

The ISS rotation speed is 27,700 km / h. This speed prevents the station from falling to Earth.

Where is the ISS at the moment and how to see it from Earth

Many are interested in the question: is it realistic to see the ship with the naked eye? Due to its constant orbit and large size, anyone can see the ISS.

You can view the ship in the sky both during the day and at night, but it is recommended to do this at night.

In order to find out the flight time over your city, you need to subscribe to the NASA mailing list. You can monitor the movement of the station in real time thanks to the special Twisst service.

Conclusion

If you see a bright object in the sky, it is not always a meteorite, comet or star. Knowing how to distinguish the ISS with the naked eye, you will definitely not be mistaken in a celestial body.

You can learn more about the ISS news, see the movement of the object on the official website: http://mks-online.ru.

The idea of ​​creating an international space station emerged in the early 1990s. The project became international when Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency joined the United States. 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 of this project. The Russian government accepted the proposal, after which some experts began to call the project "Ralph", that is, "Russian Alpha", - recalls NASA spokesman for public relations Ellen Kline.

According to experts, the construction of "Alpha-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 Russians, we receive 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 quite ambitious. It was assumed that at the station it would be possible to repair satellites and entire spaceships, study the functioning of the human body during a long stay in zero gravity, conduct astronomical research, and even establish production.

The Americans were also attracted by the unique techniques on which millions of rubles and years of work by Soviet scientists and engineers were invested. Having worked in one "team" with the Russians, they also got a fairly complete understanding of Russian methods, technologies, etc., concerning long-term orbital stations. It is difficult to estimate how many billions of dollars they are worth.

The Americans made a scientific laboratory for the station, a living module, and the Node-1 and Node-2 docking blocks. The Russian side has developed and delivered a functional cargo block, a universal docking module, supply transport 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. The central part of the station is the functional cargo block, which is 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 - over 19 tons. The block serves as a home for astronauts during the initial stage of assembly of the station, as well as to provide it with electricity from solar panels and store fuel supplies for propulsion systems. The service module is based on the central part of the Mir-2 station, which was developed in the 1980s. In it, astronauts live constantly 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 supplied a mobile service system, Japan - a pilot module.

The assembly of the International Space Station required approximately 28 flights on American Space Shuttle-class spacecraft, 17 launches of Russian carrier rockets and one launch of Ariana-5. 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 - Russian components, 37 tons - American. The estimated operating time of the international station is 15 years.

Due to the financial turmoil that followed the Russian Aerospace Agency, the construction of the ISS was out of schedule for two whole 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 to the ISS.

This day went down in the history of its creation as one of the most important. At the Johnson Manned Space Flight Center in Houston and at the Russian MCC in the city of Korolyov, the hands on the clock show different times, but the ovations burst out at the same time.

Until that time, the ISS was a set of lifeless building blocks, "Zvezda" breathed its "soul" into it: a scientific laboratory suitable for life and long-term fruitful work appeared in orbit. This is a fundamentally new stage in a grandiose international experiment involving 16 countries.

“The gates are now open to continue building the International Space Station,” NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said with satisfaction. Currently, the ISS consists of three elements - the Zvezda service module and the Zarya functional cargo block, built by Russia, and the Unity docking station, built by the United States. With the docking of the new module, the station not only grew noticeably, but also became as heavy as possible in zero gravity conditions, gaining a total of about 60 tons.

After that, a kind of rod was assembled in near-earth orbit, onto which more and more new structural elements can be "stringed". The Zvezda is the cornerstone of the entire future space structure, comparable in size to a city block. Scientists claim that the fully assembled station will be the third object in the starry sky in terms of brightness - after the Moon and Venus. It will be possible to observe it even with the naked eye.

The $ 340 million Russian block is a key element in the transition from quantity to quality. The Star is the brain of the ISS. The Russian module is not only a place of residence for 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's orientation and orbit altitude. Henceforth, all crews arriving on the Shuttles during work on board the station will no longer rely on the systems of the American spacecraft, but on the life support of the ISS itself. And Zvezda guarantees this.

“The docking of the Russian module and the station took place at an altitude of 370 kilometers above the planet's surface,” Vladimir Rogachev writes in the Echo of the Planet magazine. - At this moment, spacecraft were rushing at a speed of about 27 thousand kilometers per hour. The operation carried out has earned the highest marks from experts, once again confirming the reliability of Russian equipment and the highest professionalism of its creators. As Sergei Kulik, a representative of Rosaviakosmos in Houston, emphasized in a conversation with me on the phone, both American and Russian experts were well aware that they were witnessing a historic event. My interlocutor also noted that experts from the European Space Agency, who created the Zvezda central on-board computer, also made an important contribution to ensuring the docking.

Then Sergei Krikalev took the call, who, as part of the first long-stay crew starting from Baikonur at the end of October, will have to settle in the ISS. Sergei noted that everyone in Houston was waiting for the moment of touching the spacecraft with tremendous tension. Moreover, after the automatic mode of docking was turned on, very little could be done "from the side". The accomplished event, the cosmonaut explained, opens up prospects for the deployment of work on the ISS and the continuation of the manned flight program. In essence, this is “... a continuation of the Soyuz-Apollo program, the 25th anniversary of the completion of which is celebrated these days. The Russians have already flown the Shuttle, the Americans have flown the Mir, now a new stage is beginning. "

Maria Ivatsevich, representing the M.V. Khrunicheva, especially noted that the docking performed 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. “It is obvious that the torch of the competition has now passed from Russia to the United States and the rest of the partners of the international project,” he said. "We are ready to accept this load, realizing that it is up to us to maintain the station construction schedule."

In March 2001, the ISS was nearly hit by space debris. It is noteworthy that it could have been rammed by a part from the station itself, which was lost during the exit to open space astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms. As a result of the maneuver, the ISS managed to avoid a 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 debris of the upper stage of a space rocket. Then the specialists of the Russian Mission Control Center, in the city of Korolev, managed to give a command for a maneuver. As a result, the debris flew past at a distance of 6.5 kilometers, which is minuscule by cosmic standards.

Now the American Mission Control Center in Houston has demonstrated its ability to act in a critical situation. After receiving information from the Space Tracking Center on orbiting space debris in the immediate vicinity of the ISS, 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 the maneuver had failed, then the flying part could, in the event of a collision, damage, first of all, the solar batteries of the station. Such a splinter cannot penetrate the ISS hull: each of its modules is reliably covered with anti-meteorite protection.

The International Space Station (ISS), the successor to the Soviet Mir station, celebrates its 10th anniversary since its inception. The agreement on the creation of the ISS was signed on January 29, 1998 in Washington by representatives of Canada, the governments of the member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, Russia and the United States.

Work on the International Space Station began in 1993.

On March 15, 1993, the General Director of the RCA Yu.N. Koptev and general designer of NPO ENERGIA Yu.P. Semenov turned to the head of NASA D. Goldin with a proposal to create an International Space Station.

On September 2, 1993, the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation V.S. Chernomyrdin and US Vice President A. Gore signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Space, which, among other things, provides for the creation of a joint station. In its development, the RSA and NASA developed and on November 1, 1993 signed a "Detailed Work Plan for the International Space Station". This made it possible in June 1994 to sign a contract between NASA and RSA "On supplies and services for the Mir station and the International Space Station."

Taking into account individual changes at the joint meetings of the Russian and American sides in 1994, the ISS had the following structure and work organization:

In addition to Russia and the United States, Canada, Japan and the countries of European cooperation are involved in the creation of the station;

The station will consist of 2 integrated segments (Russian and American) and will be assembled in orbit gradually from separate modules.

Construction of the ISS in near-earth orbit began on November 20, 1998 with the launch of the Zarya functional cargo block.
Already on December 7, 1998, the American connecting module Unity, delivered into orbit by the Endeavor shuttle, was docked to it.

On December 10, the hatches to the new station were opened for the first time. The first to enter it were the Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and the American astronaut Robert Kabana.

On July 26, 2000, the Zvezda service module was added to the ISS, which at the stage of station deployment became its base unit, the main place for the crew to live and work.

In November 2000, the crew of the first long-term expedition arrived on the ISS: William Shepherd (commander), Yuri Gidzenko (pilot) and Sergei Krikalev (flight engineer). Since then, the station has been permanently inhabited.

During the station's deployment, 15 main expeditions and 13 visiting crews visited the ISS. Currently, the crew of Expedition 16 is at the station - the first female ISS commander is American, Peggy Whitson, ISS flight engineers, Russian Yuri Malenchenko, and American Daniel Tani.

Within the framework of a separate agreement with ESA, six flights of European astronauts were carried out to the ISS: Claudie Haignere (France) - in 2001, Roberto Vittori (Italy) - in 2002 and 2005, Franca de Winna (Belgium) - in 2002, Pedro Duque (Spain) - in 2003, André Kuijpers (Netherlands) - in 2004.

A new page in the commercial use of space was opened after the first space tourists - American Denis Tito (in 2001) and South African Mark Shuttleworth (in 2002) - flew to the Russian segment of the ISS. For the first time, non-professional cosmonauts visited the station.

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In the early 20th century, space pioneers such as Hermann Obert, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Nordung and Werner von Braun dreamed of vast ones revolving around. These scientists assumed that space stations were the starting points for space exploration.

Wernher von Braun, architect of the American space program, has integrated space stations into his long-term vision for space exploration in the United States. To accompany Von Braun's numerous space articles in popular magazines, artists drew space station concepts. These articles and drawings helped to attract public imagination and interest in space exploration, which was necessary for the creation of the US space program.

In these concepts in the space station, humans lived and worked in space. Most of the stations were wheel-like structures that rotated to provide an artificial one. Like any port, ships went to and from the station. The ship carried cargo, passengers and supplies from Earth. The departing ships went to Earth, and beyond. As you know, this general concept is no longer just the vision of scientists, artists and science fiction authors. But what steps have been taken to create such orbital structures? Although humanity has not yet grasped the full visions of scientists, there have been significant advances in the construction of space stations.

Since 1971, the United States and Russia have had orbiting space stations. The first space stations were the Russian Salyut program, the Skylab program in the United States, and the Russian World program. And since 1998, the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada, Japan and other countries have been building and operating on the near-Earth. On the ISS, people have been living and working in space for over 10 years.

In this article, we look at the early space station programs, the use of space stations, and the future role of space stations in space exploration. But first, let's take a closer look at why we should build space stations.

Why should we build space stations?

There are many reasons for building and operating space stations, including research, industry, exploration, and even tourism. The first space stations were built to study the long-term effects of weightlessness on the human body. After all, if astronauts ever want to go to Mars or others, then we need to know how prolonged microgravity over months and years will affect their health.

Space stations are the venue for cutting-edge scientific research in conditions that cannot be created on Earth. For example, gravity changes the way atoms combine into crystals. Near-perfect crystals can form under microgravity conditions. Such crystals can provide better semiconductors for faster computers or for creating effective drugs. Another effect of gravity is that it creates convection currents in the flame, which leads to unsteady processes, which makes it difficult to study the combustion process. However, under microgravity conditions, a simple, steady, slow flame is obtained; these types of flame make it easier to study the combustion process. The information obtained can provide a better understanding of the combustion process and lead to improved furnace designs or reduced air pollution by improving combustion efficiency.

From a height above the Earth, space stations offer unique views for studying the weather, Earth's topography, vegetation, oceans, etc. In addition, because space stations are above the earth's atmosphere, they can be used as manned observatories where space telescopes can look at the heavens. The Earth's atmosphere does not interfere with the views of space telescopes. In fact, we've already seen the benefits of unmanned space telescopes like.

Space stations can be used as space hotels. Here, private companies can ferry tourists from Earth to space for short-term visits or extended stays. Even the big expansion of tourism is that space stations could become space ports for expeditions to planets and stars, or even new cities and colonies that could liberate an overpopulated planet.

Now that you know why we need this, let's visit some space stations. And let's start with the Russian Salyut program, the first space station.

Fireworks: the first space station

Russia (then known as the Soviet Union) was the first to host a space station. The Salyut-1 station, launched into orbit in 1971, was actually a combination of the Almaz and Soyuz spacecraft systems. The Almaz system was originally intended for space military purposes, but has been converted for the civilian space station Salyut. Spaceship Soyuz ferried astronauts from Earth to the space station and back.

Salute 1 was about 15 meters long and consisted of three main compartments, which housed dining rooms and recreation areas, food and water storage, a toilet, control stations, simulators and scientific equipment. The crew was originally supposed to live aboard Salyut-1, but their mission was related to docking problems that prevented them from entering the space station. The Soyuz-11 team was the first team to successfully survive on Salute 1, which they spent 24 days. However, the Soyuz-11 crew died tragically after returning to Earth, when the Soyuz-11 capsule depressurized during its return. Further missions to Salyut 1 were canceled and the Soyuz spacecraft was redesigned.

After Soyuz-11, another space station, Salyut-2, was launched, but it was unable to enter orbit, followed by Salyuty 3-5. These flights tested the new Soyuz spacecraft and the crews equipped with these stations for longer missions. One of the disadvantages of these space stations was that they only had one docking port for the Soyuz spacecraft and could not be re-docked with other spacecraft.

On September 29, 1977, the Soviets launched Salute 6. This station had a second docking port where the station could be replaced. Salyut-6 operated from 1977 to 1982. In 1982, the last of the Salute programs was launched. It housed 11 crews and were inhabited for 800 days. The Salyut program ultimately led to the development of the Russian space station Mir, which we will talk about a little later. But first, let's look at America's first space station: Skylab.

Skylab: America's first space station

In 1973, the United States placed its first and only space station, Skylab 1, in orbit. The station was damaged during the launch. The critical meteoroid shield and one of the station's two main solar panels were ripped off, and the other solar panel was not fully extended. This meant that Skylab had little electrical power and its internal temperature rose to 52 degrees Celsius.

The first Skylab 2 crew was launched 10 days later to fix the ailing station. The astronauts pulled out the remaining solar panel and installed an umbrella sunshade to cool the station. After repairing the station, astronauts spent 28 days in space conducting scientific and biomedical research. The modified Skylab had the following parts: orbital workshop - living and working quarters for the crew; gateway module - access to the outside of the station is allowed; several docking adapters - allowed several spacecraft to dock with the station at once (however, the station never had overlapping crews); telescopes for observation, and (keep in mind that has not yet been built); Apollo is a command and service module for transporting a crew to the Earth's surface and back. Skylab was manned by two additional crews.

Skylab was never intended as a permanent home in space, but rather a place where the United States could experience the effects of extended space flights (i.e., more than the two weeks required to fly to the moon) on the human body when the third crew's flight was completed. Skylab was abandoned. Skylab remained airborne until intense solar flare activity caused its orbit to break earlier than expected. Skylab entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up over Australia in 1979.

World: the first permanent space station

In 1986, the Russians launched a space station that was to become a permanent home in space. The first crew, cosmonauts Leonid Kizima and Vladimir Soloviev, stormed between the retired Salyut 7 and Mir. They spent 75 days aboard Mir. The world was constantly completed and built over the next 10 years and contained the following parts:

- Living quarters - separate crew cabins, toilet, shower, kitchen and garbage storage are located;

- Transportation compartment - where additional stations can be connected;

- Intermediate compartment - pluggable working module to rear docking ports;

- Assembly compartment - fuel tanks and rocket engines are located;

- Astrophysics module Kvant-1 - contained telescopes for studying galaxies, quasars and neutron stars;

- Scientific and aviation module Kvant-2 - provided equipment for biological research, Earth observation and space flight capabilities;

- Technological module "Crystal" - was used for experiments on biological and material processing; contained a docking port that could be used with the US space shuttle;

- Spectrum module - used for research and monitoring natural resources Earth and Earth's atmosphere, as well as to support experiments in biological and materials science research;

- Natural remote sensing module - contained radars and spectrometers for studying the Earth's atmosphere;

- Docking module - contained ports for future docking;

- Supply ship - an unmanned supply ship that brought new products and equipment from Earth and removed waste from the station;

- Spacecraft "Soyuz" - provided the main transport to and from the Earth's surface.

In 1994, NASA astronauts (including Norm Tagar, Shannon Lucid, Jerry Langer, and Michael Foal) spent time aboard Mir in preparation for the International Space Station (ISS). During Linier's stay, Mir was damaged by fire. During Foel's stay, the Progress ship crashed into Mir.

The Russian space agency could no longer afford to support Mir, so NASA and the Russian space agency planned to withdraw the station to focus on the ISS. On November 16, 2000, the Russian Space Agency decided to return the World to Earth. In February 2001, Mir was turned off to slow down its movement. The world re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on March 23, 2001, burned and disintegrated. Debris collapsed at the southern end The Pacific about 1,667 km east of Australia. This marked the end of the first permanent space station.

International Space Station (ISS)

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proposed that the United States, in collaboration with other countries, build a permanently populated space station. Reagan envisioned a station that would support government and industry. To help with the huge costs of the station, the US has formed a joint effort with 14 other countries (Canada, Japan, Brazil and the European Space Agency, which includes: UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden). During the planning of the ISS and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States offered Russia to cooperate on the ISS in 1993; this brought the number of participating countries to 16. NASA took the lead in coordinating the construction of the ISS.

The assembly of the ISS in orbit began in 1998. On October 31, 2000, the first ISS crew was launched from Russia. The three-man team spent nearly five months aboard the ISS, activating systems and conducting experiments.

Speaking of the future, let's see what the future holds for space stations.

The future of space stations

We are just starting the development of space stations. ISS will significantly improve compared to Salyut, Skylab and Mir; but we are still far from realizing large space stations or colonies as science fiction authors suggest. Until now, none of our space stations have had any seriousness. One of the reasons for this is that we want a place without gravity so that we can study its effects. Another is that we lack the technology to practically rotate a large structure, such as a space station, to create artificial gravity. In the future, artificial gravity will become a requirement for space colonies with large populations.

Another popular idea concerns the location of the space station. The ISS will need periodic re-use due to its position in low-earth orbit. However, there are two places between the Earth and the Moon called the Lagrange points L-4 and L-5. At these points, the gravity of the Earth and the gravity of the Moon are balanced, so an object placed there will not be pulled towards the Earth or the Moon. The orbit would be stable and would not require adjustment. As we learn more about our experiences on the ISS, we can build bigger and better space stations that will allow us to live and work in space, and the dreams of Tsiolkovsky and early astronautics may someday become a reality.

Station "Tiangong-1" weighs 8.5 tons. Its length is 12 m, diameter 3.3 m. It was launched into orbit in 2011. Almost three years later, control of the station was lost. Roger Handberg, professor at Central Florida University, suggested that the orbit correction engines used up all the fuel.

Debris from the Chinese space station Tiangong-1, which is descending from orbit, may fall on the territory of several European countries. This was reported by The Hill, citing experts from the California Aerospace Corporation. "Most likely, they will fall into the ocean, but scientists nevertheless warned Spain, Portugal, France and Greece that some debris may fall within their borders," writes The Hill.