How the ISS was built in space. international space station

February 20, 1986 The first module of the Mir station was launched into orbit, which for many years became a symbol of Soviet and then Russian space exploration. For more than ten years it has not existed, but the memory of it will remain in history. And today we will tell you about the most significant facts and events concerning orbital station "Mir".

Orbital station Mir - All-Union shock construction

The traditions of all-Union construction projects of the fifties and seventies, during which the largest and most significant objects of the country were erected, continued in the eighties with the creation of the Mir orbital station. True, it was not low-skilled Komsomol members brought from different parts of the USSR who worked on it, but the best production capacities of the state. In total, about 280 enterprises operating under the auspices of 20 ministries and departments worked on this project. The Mir station project began to be developed back in 1976. It was supposed to become a fundamentally new man-made space object - a real orbital city where people could live and work for a long time. Moreover, not only astronauts from the countries of the Eastern bloc, but also from the states of the West.

Active work on the construction of the orbital station began in 1979, but in 1984 they were temporarily suspended - all the forces of the space industry of the Soviet Union went to the creation of the Buran shuttle. However, the intervention of senior party officials, who planned to launch the object for the XXVII Congress of the CPSU (February 25 - March 6, 1986), made it possible to complete the work in a short time and launch Mir into orbit on February 20, 1986.

Mir station structure

However, on February 20, 1986, a completely different Mir station, which we knew, appeared in orbit. It was only the base unit, which was eventually joined by several other modules that turned the Mir into a huge orbital complex connecting residential blocks, scientific laboratories and technical facilities, including the module for docking the Russian station with the American space shuttles Shuttle ". At the end of the nineties, the Mir orbital station consisted of the following elements: the base unit, the modules Kvant-1 (scientific), Kvant-2 (household), Kristall (docking-technological), Spektr (scientific ), "Nature" (scientific), as well as a docking module for American shuttles.

It was planned that the assembly of the Mir station would be completed by 1990. But economic problems in the Soviet Union, and then the collapse of the state, prevented the implementation of these plans, and as a result, the last module was added only in 1996.

Purpose of the Mir orbital station

The Mir orbital station is, first of all, a scientific object that allows conducting unique experiments on it that are not available on Earth. These are both astrophysical research and the study of our planet itself, the processes taking place on it, in its atmosphere and near space. An important role at the Mir station was played by experiments related to human behavior under conditions of prolonged stay in weightlessness, as well as in the cramped conditions of a spacecraft. Here they studied the reaction of the human body and psyche to future flights to other planets, and indeed to life in space, the development of which is impossible without this kind of research.

And, of course, the Mir orbital station served as a symbol of the Russian presence in space, the national space program, and, over time, the friendship of cosmonauts from different countries.

Mir is the first international space station

The possibility of attracting cosmonauts from other, including non-Soviet countries, to work on the Mir orbital station was built into the concept of the project from the very beginning. However, these plans were realized only in the nineties, when the Russian space program experienced financial difficulties, and therefore it was decided to invite foreign states to work on the Mir station. But the first foreign cosmonaut got to the Mir station much earlier - in July 1987. They became the Syrian Mohammed Faris. Later, representatives from Afghanistan, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Japan, Austria, Great Britain, Canada and Slovakia visited the facility. But most of the foreigners on the Mir orbital station were from the United States of America.

In the early 1990s, the United States did not have its own long-term orbital station, and therefore they decided to join the Russian Mir project. The first American to be there was Norman Thagard on March 16, 1995. This happened as part of the Mir-Shuttle program, but the flight itself was carried out on the domestic Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft.

Already in June 1995, five American astronauts flew to the Mir station at once. They got there on the shuttle Atlantis. In total, US representatives have appeared on this Russian space object fifty times (34 different astronauts).

Space records at Mir station

Orbital station "Mir" in itself is a champion. It was originally planned that it would last only five years and be replaced by the Mir-2 facility. But the reduction in funding led to the fact that her term of service stretched for fifteen years. And the time of uninterrupted stay of people on it is estimated at 3642 days - from September 5, 1989 to August 26, 1999, almost ten years (the ISS broke this achievement in 2010). During this time, the Mir station has become a witness and a "home" for many space records. More than 23 thousand scientific experiments were carried out there. Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, being on board, spent 438 days continuously in space (from January 8, 1994 to March 22, 1995), which is still a record achievement in history. And a similar record for women was also set there - the American Shannon Lucid in 1996 stayed in outer space for 188 days (already beaten on the ISS).

Another unique event that took place aboard the Mir station was the first-ever space art exhibition on January 23, 1993. Within its framework, two works by Ukrainian artist Igor Podolyak were presented.

Decommissioning and descent to Earth

Breakdowns and technical problems at the Mir station were recorded from the very beginning of its commissioning. But at the end of the nineties, it became clear that its further functioning would be difficult - the object was morally and technically obsolete. Moreover, at the beginning of the decade, a decision was made to build the International Space Station, in which Russia also took part. And on November 20, 1998, the Russian Federation launched the first element of the ISS - the Zarya module. In January 2001, the final decision was made on the future flooding of the Mir orbital station, despite the fact that there were options for its possible rescue, including the purchase by Iran. However, on March 23, the Mir was sunk in the Pacific Ocean, in a place called the Spaceship Graveyard - it is there that obsolete objects are sent for eternal residence.

Residents of Australia that day, fearing "surprises" from the station that had long become problematic, jokingly placed sights on their land plots, hinting that a Russian object could fall there. However, the flooding passed without unforeseen circumstances - the Mir went under water approximately in the area where it should have been.

Heritage of the orbital station Mir

Mir became the first orbital station built on a modular basis, when many other elements necessary to perform certain functions can be attached to the base unit. This gave impetus to a new round of space exploration. And even with the future establishment of permanent bases on planets and satellites, long-term orbital modular stations will still be the basis for a human presence outside the Earth.

The modular principle worked out on the Mir orbital station is now used on the International Space Station. At the moment, it consists of fourteen elements.

Manned Orbital Multipurpose Space Research Complex

The International Space Station (ISS) was created to carry out scientific research in space. Construction began in 1998 and is being carried out with the cooperation of the aerospace agencies of Russia, the United States, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the European Union, according to the plan, it should be completed by 2013. The weight of the station after its completion will be approximately 400 tons. The ISS revolves around the Earth at an altitude of about 340 kilometers, making 16 revolutions per day. Tentatively, the station will operate in orbit until 2016-2020.

Ten years after the first space flight by Yuri Gagarin, in April 1971, the world's first space orbital station, Salyut-1, was put into orbit. Long-term habitable stations (DOS) were needed for scientific research. Their creation was a necessary step in the preparation of future human flights to other planets. During the implementation of the Salyut program from 1971 to 1986, the USSR had the opportunity to test the main architectural elements of space stations and subsequently use them in the project of a new long-term orbital station - Mir.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a reduction in funding for the space program, so Russia alone could not only build a new orbital station, but also maintain the Mir station. Then the Americans had practically no experience in creating DOS. In 1993, US Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the Mir-Shuttle space cooperation agreement. The Americans agreed to finance the construction of the last two modules of the Mir station: Spektr and Priroda. In addition, from 1994 to 1998, the United States made 11 flights to Mir. The agreement also provided for the creation of a joint project - the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) and the US National Aerospace Agency (NASA), the project was attended by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA, it includes 17 participating countries), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) , as well as the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). Interest in participating in the ISS project was expressed by India and China. On January 28, 1998, the final agreement was signed in Washington to start construction of the ISS.

The ISS has a modular structure: its various segments were created by the efforts of the countries participating in the project and have their own specific function: research, residential or used as storage facilities. Some of the modules, such as the US Unity series modules, are jumpers or are used for docking with transport ships. When completed, the ISS will consist of 14 main modules with a total volume of 1000 cubic meters, a crew of 6 or 7 people will be permanently on board the station.

The weight of the ISS after the completion of its construction, according to plans, will be more than 400 tons. In terms of dimensions, the station roughly corresponds to a football field. In the starry sky, it can be observed with the naked eye - sometimes the station is the brightest celestial body after the Sun and the Moon.

The ISS revolves around the Earth at an altitude of about 340 kilometers, making 16 revolutions around it per day. Scientific experiments are carried out on board the station in the following areas:

• Research on new medical methods of therapy and diagnostics and life support in weightlessness
• Research in the field of biology, the functioning of living organisms in outer space under the influence of solar radiation
• Experiments on the study of the earth's atmosphere, cosmic rays, cosmic dust and dark matter
• Study of the properties of matter, including superconductivity.

The first module of the station - Zarya (weighs 19.323 tons) - was launched into orbit by the Proton-K launch vehicle on November 20, 1998. This module was used at an early stage of the construction of the station as a source of electricity, as well as to control orientation in space and maintain the temperature regime. Subsequently, these functions were transferred to other modules, and Zarya began to be used as a warehouse.

The Zvezda module is the main habitation module of the station; life support and station control systems are on board. The Russian transport ships Soyuz and Progress are docked to it. With a delay of two years, the module was launched into orbit by the Proton-K launch vehicle on July 12, 2000 and docked on July 26 with the Zarya and the previously launched Unity-1 American docking module.

The Pirs docking module (weighing 3,480 tons) was launched into orbit in September 2001 and is used for docking the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, as well as for spacewalks. In November 2009, the Poisk module, almost identical to Pirs, docked with the station.

Russia plans to dock a Multifunctional Laboratory Module (MLM) to the station; after launching in 2012, it should become the largest laboratory module of the station weighing more than 20 tons.

The ISS already has laboratory modules from the US (Destiny), ESA (Columbus) and Japan (Kibo). They and the main hub segments Harmony, Quest and Unnity were launched into orbit by shuttles.

During the first 10 years of operation, the ISS was visited by more than 200 people from 28 expeditions, which is a record for space stations (only 104 people visited Mir). The ISS became the first example of the commercialization of space flights. Roskosmos, together with Space Adventures, sent space tourists into orbit for the first time. In addition, under the contract for the purchase of Russian weapons by Malaysia, Roskosmos in 2007 organized the flight to the ISS of the first Malaysian cosmonaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.

Among the most serious accidents on the ISS is the disaster during the landing of the space shuttle Columbia ("Columbia", "Columbia") on February 1, 2003. Although Columbia did not dock with the ISS while conducting an independent research mission, this disaster led to the fact that the shuttle flights were terminated and resumed only in July 2005. This pushed back the deadline for completing the construction of the station and made the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft the only means of delivering cosmonauts and cargo to the station. In addition, in the Russian segment of the station in 2006 there was smoke, and there was also a failure of computers in the Russian and American segments in 2001 and twice in 2007. In the fall of 2007, the station's crew was repairing a solar battery rupture that occurred during its installation.

By agreement, each project participant owns its segments on the ISS. Russia owns the Zvezda and Pirs modules, Japan owns the Kibo module, ESA owns the Columbus module. Solar panels, which after the completion of the station will generate 110 kilowatts per hour, and the rest of the modules belong to NASA.

Completion of the construction of the ISS is scheduled for 2013. Thanks to the new equipment delivered aboard the ISS by the Space Shuttle Endeavor expedition in November 2008, the station crew will be increased in 2009 from 3 to 6 people. It was originally planned that the ISS station should work in orbit until 2010, in 2008 another date was called - 2016 or 2020. According to experts, the ISS, unlike the Mir station, will not be sunk in the ocean, it is supposed to be used as a base for assembling interplanetary spacecraft. Despite the fact that NASA spoke in favor of reducing the funding of the station, the head of the agency, Michael Griffin, promised to fulfill all US obligations to complete its construction. However, after the war in South Ossetia, many experts, including Griffin, said that the cooling of relations between Russia and the United States could lead to the fact that Roscosmos would cease cooperation with NASA and the Americans would lose the opportunity to send their expeditions to the station. In 2010, US President Barack Obama announced the termination of funding for the Constellation program, which was supposed to replace the shuttles. In July 2011, the shuttle Atlantis made its last flight, after which the Americans had to rely on Russian, European and Japanese colleagues for an indefinite period to deliver cargo and astronauts to the station. In May 2012, Dragon, owned by the private American company SpaceX, docked with the ISS for the first time.

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most significant international space projects, the largest artificial inhabited Earth satellite - the International Space Station (ISS). 20 years ago, on January 29, the Agreement on the creation of a space station was signed in Washington, and already on November 20, 1998, the construction of the station began - the Proton launch vehicle was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the first module - the functional cargo block (FGB) "Zarya ". In the same year, on December 7, the second element of the orbital station, the Unity connection module, was docked with FGB Zarya. Two years later, a new addition to the station was the Zvezda service module.

On November 2, 2000, the International Space Station (ISS) began its work in a manned mode. The Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft with the crew of the first long-term expedition docked with the Zvezda Service Module.The rendezvous of the ship with the station was carried out according to the scheme that was used during flights to the Mir station. Ninety minutes after docking, the hatch was opened and the ISS-1 crew stepped aboard the ISS for the first time.The ISS-1 crew included Russian cosmonauts Yuri GIDZENKO, Sergei KRIKALEV and American astronaut William SHEPERD.

Arriving at the ISS, the cosmonauts carried out re-mothballing, retrofitting, launching and tuning the systems of the Zvezda, Unity and Zarya modules and established communication with mission control centers in Korolev and Houston near Moscow. Within four months, 143 sessions of geophysical, biomedical and technical research and experiments were performed. In addition, the ISS-1 team provided dockings with cargo spacecraft Progress M1-4 (November 2000), Progress M-44 (February 2001) and American shuttles Endeavor (December 2000) , Atlantis ("Atlantis"; February 2001), Discovery ("Discovery"; March 2001) and their unloading. Also in February 2001, the expedition team integrated the Destiny laboratory module into the ISS.

On March 21, 2001, with the American space shuttle Discovery, which delivered the crew of the second expedition to the ISS, the crew of the first long-term mission returned to Earth. The landing site was the J.F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.

In subsequent years, the Quest lock chamber, the Pirs docking compartment, the Harmony connection module, the Columbus laboratory module, the Kibo cargo and research module, the Poisk small research module, Tranquility Residential Module, Dome Observation Module, Rassvet Small Research Module, Leonardo Multifunctional Module, BEAM Convertible Test Module.

Today, the ISS is the largest international project, a manned orbital station used as a multi-purpose space research complex. The space agencies ROSCOSMOS, NASA (USA), JAXA (Japan), CSA (Canada), ESA (European countries) are participating in this global project.

With the creation of the ISS, it became possible to perform scientific experiments in unique conditions of microgravity, in vacuum and under the influence of cosmic radiation. The main areas of research are physical and chemical processes and materials in space, Earth exploration and space exploration technologies, man in space, space biology and biotechnology. Considerable attention in the work of astronauts on the International Space Station is given to educational initiatives and the popularization of space research.

ISS is a unique experience of international cooperation, support and mutual assistance; construction and operation in near-Earth orbit of a large engineering structure of paramount importance for the future of all mankind.

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, invited Russia to become a partner in this project. The 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. The central part of the station was a functional-cargo block, similar in size and main 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 assembling it in orbit was 1217 square meters, weight - 377 tons, of which 140 tons are Russian components, 37 tons are American ones. 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 clocks show different times, but the ovation burst out at them at the same time.

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

"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 spacecraft, 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 has earned the highest marks of experts, once again confirming the reliability of Russian technology and the highest professionalism of its creators. As Sergei Kulik, a representative of Rosaviakosmos, who is in Houston, emphasized in a telephone conversation with me, both American and Russian specialists were well aware that they were witnessing a historic 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 US and other partners of the 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 of the Russian Mission Control Center, 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 Space Tracking Center about the movement of space debris in orbit 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 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.

international space station

International Space Station, abbr. (English) International Space Station, abbr. ISS) - manned, used as a multi-purpose space research complex. ISS is a joint international project involving 14 countries (in alphabetical order): Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan. Initially, the participants were Brazil and the United Kingdom.

The ISS is controlled by: the Russian segment - from the Space Flight Control Center in Korolev, the American segment - from the Lyndon Johnson Mission Control Center in Houston. The control of laboratory modules - the European "Columbus" and the Japanese "Kibo" - is controlled by the Control Centers of the European Space Agency (Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Tsukuba, Japan). There is a constant exchange of information between the Centers.

History of creation

In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan announced the start of work on the creation of an American orbital station. In 1988, the planned station was named "Freedom" ("Freedom"). At the time, it was a joint project between the US, ESA, Canada and Japan. A large-sized controlled station was planned, the modules of which would be delivered one by one to the Space Shuttle orbit. But by the beginning of the 1990s, it became clear that the cost of developing the project was too high, and only international cooperation would make it possible to create such a station. The USSR, which already had experience in creating and launching the Salyut orbital stations, as well as the Mir station, planned the creation of the Mir-2 station in the early 1990s, but due to economic difficulties, the project was suspended.

On June 17, 1992, Russia and the United States entered into an agreement on cooperation in space exploration. In accordance with it, the Russian Space Agency (RSA) and NASA have developed a joint Mir-Shuttle program. This program provided for the flights of the American reusable Space Shuttle to the Russian space station Mir, the inclusion of Russian cosmonauts in the crews of American shuttles and American astronauts in the crews of the Soyuz spacecraft and the Mir station.

During the implementation of the Mir-Shuttle program, the idea of ​​combining national programs for the creation of orbital stations was born.

In March 1993, RSA General Director Yury Koptev and General Designer of NPO Energia Yury Semyonov proposed to the head of NASA, Daniel Goldin, to create the International Space Station.

In 1993, in the United States, many politicians were against the construction of a space orbital station. In June 1993, the US Congress discussed a proposal to abandon the creation of the International Space Station. This proposal was not accepted by a margin of only one vote: 215 votes for refusal, 216 votes for the construction of the station.

On September 2, 1993, US Vice President Al Gore and Chairman of the Russian Council of Ministers Viktor Chernomyrdin announced a new project for a "truly international space station." From that moment on, the official name of the station became the International Space Station, although the unofficial name, the Alpha space station, was also used in parallel.

ISS, July 1999. Above, the Unity module, below, with deployed solar panels - Zarya

On November 1, 1993, the RSA and NASA signed the Detailed Work Plan for the International Space Station.

On June 23, 1994, Yuri Koptev and Daniel Goldin signed in Washington an "Interim Agreement on Conducting Work Leading to a Russian Partnership in the Permanent Manned Civil Space Station", under which Russia officially joined the work on the ISS.

November 1994 - the first consultations of the Russian and American space agencies took place in Moscow, contracts were signed with the companies participating in the project - Boeing and RSC Energia named after. S. P. Koroleva.

March 1995 - at the Space Center. L. Johnson in Houston, the preliminary design of the station was approved.

1996 - station configuration approved. It consists of two segments - Russian (modernized version of Mir-2) and American (with the participation of Canada, Japan, Italy, member countries of the European Space Agency and Brazil).

November 20, 1998 - Russia launched the first element of the ISS - the Zarya functional cargo block, was launched by the Proton-K rocket (FGB).

December 7, 1998 - the Endeavor shuttle docked the American Unity module (Unity, Node-1) to the Zarya module.

On December 10, 1998, the hatch to the Unity module was opened and Kabana and Krikalev, as representatives of the United States and Russia, entered the station.

July 26, 2000 - the Zvezda service module (SM) was docked to the Zarya functional cargo block.

November 2, 2000 - the Soyuz TM-31 transport manned spacecraft (TPK) delivered the crew of the first main expedition to the ISS.

ISS, July 2000. Docked modules from top to bottom: Unity, Zarya, Zvezda and Progress ship

February 7, 2001 - the crew of the shuttle Atlantis during the STS-98 mission attached the American scientific module Destiny to the Unity module.

April 18, 2005 - Head of NASA Michael Griffin, at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Space and Science, announced the need for a temporary reduction in scientific research on the American segment of the station. This was required to free up funds for the accelerated development and construction of a new manned spacecraft (CEV). The new manned spacecraft was needed to provide independent US access to the station, since after the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, the US temporarily did not have such access to the station until July 2005, when shuttle flights resumed.

After the Columbia disaster, the number of ISS long-term crew members was reduced from three to two. This was due to the fact that the supply of the station with the materials necessary for the life of the crew was carried out only by Russian Progress cargo ships.

On July 26, 2005, shuttle flights resumed with the successful launch of the Discovery shuttle. Until the end of the shuttle operation, it was planned to make 17 flights until 2010, during these flights the equipment and modules necessary both for completing the station and for upgrading part of the equipment, in particular, the Canadian manipulator, were delivered to the ISS.

The second shuttle flight after the Columbia disaster (Shuttle Discovery STS-121) took place in July 2006. On this shuttle, the German cosmonaut Thomas Reiter arrived at the ISS, who joined the crew of the long-term expedition ISS-13. Thus, in a long-term expedition to the ISS, after a three-year break, three cosmonauts again began to work.

ISS, April 2002

Launched on September 9, 2006, the shuttle Atlantis delivered to the ISS two segments of ISS truss structures, two solar panels, and also radiators for the US segment's thermal control system.

On October 23, 2007, the American Harmony module arrived aboard the Discovery shuttle. It was temporarily docked to the Unity module. After re-docking on November 14, 2007, the Harmony module was permanently connected to the Destiny module. The construction of the main US segment of the ISS has been completed.

ISS, August 2005

In 2008, the station was expanded by two laboratories. On February 11, the Columbus Module, commissioned by the European Space Agency, was docked; PS) and sealed compartment (PM).

In 2008-2009, the operation of new transport vehicles began: the European Space Agency "ATV" (the first launch took place on March 9, 2008, the payload is 7.7 tons, 1 flight per year) and the Japanese Aerospace Research Agency "H-II Transport Vehicle "(the first launch took place on September 10, 2009, payload - 6 tons, 1 flight per year).

On May 29, 2009, the ISS-20 long-term crew of six people began work, delivered in two stages: the first three people arrived on the Soyuz TMA-14, then the Soyuz TMA-15 crew joined them. To a large extent, the increase in the crew was due to the fact that the possibility of delivering goods to the station increased.

ISS, September 2006

On November 12, 2009, a small research module MIM-2 was docked to the station, shortly before the launch it was called Poisk. This is the fourth module of the Russian segment of the station, developed on the basis of the Pirs docking station. The capabilities of the module make it possible to carry out some scientific experiments on it, as well as simultaneously serve as a berth for Russian ships.

On May 18, 2010, the Russian Small Research Module Rassvet (MIM-1) was successfully docked to the ISS. The operation to dock "Rassvet" to the Russian functional cargo block "Zarya" was carried out by the manipulator of the American space shuttle "Atlantis", and then by the manipulator of the ISS.

ISS, August 2007

In February 2010, the International Space Station Multilateral Board confirmed that there are no known technical restrictions at this stage on the continued operation of the ISS beyond 2015, and the US Administration has provided for the continued use of the ISS until at least 2020. NASA and Roscosmos are considering extending this until at least 2024, and possibly extending to 2027. In May 2014, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated: "Russia does not intend to extend the operation of the International Space Station beyond 2020."

In 2011, the flights of reusable ships of the "Space Shuttle" type were completed.

ISS, June 2008

On May 22, 2012, a Falcon 9 launch vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying the Dragon private spacecraft. This is the first ever test flight to the International Space Station of a private spacecraft.

On May 25, 2012, the Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the ISS.

On September 18, 2013, for the first time, he rendezvoused with the ISS and docked the private automatic cargo spacecraft Signus.

ISS, March 2011

Planned events

The plans include a significant modernization of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz and Progress.

In 2017, it is planned to dock the Russian 25-ton multifunctional laboratory module (MLM) Nauka to the ISS. It will take the place of the Pirs module, which will be undocked and flooded. Among other things, the new Russian module will fully take over the functions of Pirs.

"NEM-1" (scientific and energy module) - the first module, delivery is planned for 2018;

"NEM-2" (scientific and energy module) - the second module.

UM (nodal module) for the Russian segment - with additional docking nodes. Delivery is planned for 2017.

Station device

The station is based on a modular principle. The ISS is assembled by sequentially adding another module or block to the complex, which is connected to the one already delivered into orbit.

For 2013, the ISS includes 14 main modules, Russian - Zarya, Zvezda, Pirs, Poisk, Rassvet; American - Unity, Destiny, Quest, Tranquility, Domes, Leonardo, Harmony, European - Columbus and Japanese - Kibo.

• "Dawn"- functional cargo module "Zarya", the first of the ISS modules delivered into orbit. Module weight - 20 tons, length - 12.6 m, diameter - 4 m, volume - 80 m³. Equipped with jet engines to correct the station's orbit and large solar arrays. The life of the module is expected to be at least 15 years. The American financial contribution to the creation of Zarya is about $250 million, the Russian one is over $150 million;
• P.M. panel- anti-meteorite panel or anti-micrometeor protection, which, at the insistence of the American side, is mounted on the Zvezda module;
• "Star"- the Zvezda service module, which houses flight control systems, life support systems, an energy and information center, as well as cabins for astronauts. Module weight - 24 tons. The module is divided into five compartments and has four docking nodes. All its systems and blocks are Russian, with the exception of the onboard computer system, created with the participation of European and American specialists;
• MIME- small research modules, two Russian cargo modules "Poisk" and "Rassvet", designed to store equipment necessary for conducting scientific experiments. The Poisk is docked to the anti-aircraft docking port of the Zvezda module, and the Rassvet is docked to the nadir port of the Zarya module;
• "The science"- Russian multifunctional laboratory module, which provides for the storage of scientific equipment, scientific experiments, temporary accommodation of the crew. Also provides the functionality of a European manipulator;
• ERA- European remote manipulator designed to move equipment located outside the station. Will be assigned to the Russian scientific laboratory MLM;
• hermetic adapter- hermetic docking adapter designed to connect the ISS modules to each other and to ensure shuttle docking;
• "Calm"- ISS module performing life support functions. It contains systems for water treatment, air regeneration, waste disposal, etc. Connected to the Unity module;
• Unity- the first of the three connecting modules of the ISS, which acts as a docking station and power switch for the Quest, Nod-3 modules, the Z1 truss and the transport ships docking to it through the Germoadapter-3;
• "Pier"- mooring port intended for docking of Russian "Progress" and "Soyuz"; installed on the Zvezda module;
• GSP- external storage platforms: three external non-pressurized platforms designed exclusively for the storage of goods and equipment;
• Farms- an integrated truss structure, on the elements of which solar panels, radiator panels and remote manipulators are installed. It is also intended for non-hermetic storage of goods and various equipment;
• "Canadarm2", or "Mobile Service System" - a Canadian system of remote manipulators, serving as the main tool for unloading transport ships and moving external equipment;
• "dexter"- Canadian system of two remote manipulators, used to move equipment located outside the station;
• "Quest"- a specialized gateway module designed for spacewalks of cosmonauts and astronauts with the possibility of preliminary desaturation (washing out of nitrogen from human blood);
• "Harmony"- a connecting module that acts as a docking station and power switch for three scientific laboratories and transport ships docking to it through Hermoadapter-2. Contains additional life support systems;
• "Columbus"- a European laboratory module, in which, in addition to scientific equipment, network switches (hubs) are installed that provide communication between the computer equipment of the station. Docked to the "Harmony" module;
• "Destiny"- American laboratory module docked with the "Harmony" module;
• "Kibo"- Japanese laboratory module, consisting of three compartments and one main remote manipulator. The largest module of the station. Designed for conducting physical, biological, biotechnological and other scientific experiments in hermetic and non-hermetic conditions. In addition, due to the special design, it allows for unplanned experiments. Docked to the "Harmony" module;

Observation dome of the ISS.

• "Dome"- transparent observation dome. Its seven windows (the largest is 80 cm in diameter) are used for experiments, space observation and docking of spacecraft, as well as a control panel for the main remote manipulator of the station. Resting place for crew members. Designed and manufactured by the European Space Agency. Installed on the nodal Tranquility module;
• TSP- four non-pressurized platforms, fixed on trusses 3 and 4, designed to accommodate the equipment necessary for conducting scientific experiments in a vacuum. They provide processing and transmission of experimental results via high-speed channels to the station.
• Sealed multifunctional module- warehouse for cargo storage, docked to the nadir docking station of the Destiny module.

In addition to the components listed above, there are three cargo modules: Leonardo, Rafael and Donatello, periodically delivered into orbit to equip the ISS with the necessary scientific equipment and other cargo. Modules having a common name "Multi-Purpose Supply Module", were delivered in the cargo compartment of the shuttles and docked with the Unity module. The converted Leonardo module has been part of the station's modules since March 2011 under the name "Permanent Multipurpose Module" (PMM).

Station power supply

ISS in 2001. The solar panels of the Zarya and Zvezda modules are visible, as well as the P6 truss structure with American solar panels.

The only source of electrical energy for the ISS is the light from which the solar panels of the station convert into electricity.

The Russian Segment of the ISS uses a constant voltage of 28 volts, similar to that used on the Space Shuttle and Soyuz spacecraft. Electricity is generated directly by the solar panels of the Zarya and Zvezda modules, and can also be transmitted from the American segment to the Russian segment through an ARCU voltage converter ( American-to-Russian converter unit) and in the opposite direction through the voltage converter RACU ( Russian-to-American converter unit).

It was originally planned that the station would be provided with electricity using the Russian module of the Science and Energy Platform (NEP). However, after the Columbia shuttle disaster, the station assembly program and the shuttle flight schedule were revised. Among other things, they also refused to deliver and install the NEP, so at the moment most of the electricity is produced by solar panels in the American sector.

In the US segment, the solar panels are organized as follows: two flexible, collapsible solar panels form the so-called solar wing ( Solar Array Wing, SAW), a total of four pairs of such wings are placed on the truss structures of the station. Each wing is 35 m long and 11.6 m wide, and has a usable area of ​​298 m², while generating a total power of up to 32.8 kW. Solar panels generate a primary DC voltage of 115 to 173 Volts, which is then, with the help of DDCU units (Eng. Direct Current to Direct Current Converter Unit ), is transformed into a secondary stabilized DC voltage of 124 volts. This stabilized voltage is directly used to power the electrical equipment of the American segment of the station.

Solar array on the ISS

The station makes one revolution around the Earth in 90 minutes and it spends about half of this time in the shadow of the Earth, where the solar panels do not work. Then its power supply comes from buffer nickel-hydrogen batteries, which are recharged when the ISS again enters the sunlight. The service life of the batteries is 6.5 years, it is expected that during the life of the station they will be replaced several times. The first battery replacement was carried out on the P6 segment during the spacewalk of astronauts during the flight of the Endeavor shuttle STS-127 in July 2009.

Under normal conditions, solar arrays in the US sector track the Sun to maximize power generation. Solar panels are directed to the Sun with the help of Alpha and Beta drives. The station has two Alpha drives, which turn several sections with solar panels located on them around the longitudinal axis of the truss structures at once: the first drive turns the sections from P4 to P6, the second - from S4 to S6. Each wing of the solar battery has its own Beta drive, which ensures the rotation of the wing relative to its longitudinal axis.

When the ISS is in the shadow of the Earth, the solar panels are switched to Night Glider mode ( English) (“Night planning mode”), while they turn edge in the direction of travel to reduce the resistance of the atmosphere, which is present at the altitude of the station.

Means of communication

The transmission of telemetry and the exchange of scientific data between the station and the Mission Control Center is carried out using radio communications. In addition, radio communications are used during rendezvous and docking operations, they are used for audio and video communication between crew members and with flight control specialists on Earth, as well as relatives and friends of astronauts. Thus, the ISS is equipped with internal and external multipurpose communication systems.

The Russian Segment of the ISS communicates directly with the Earth using the Lira radio antenna installed on the Zvezda module. "Lira" makes it possible to use the satellite data relay system "Luch". This system was used to communicate with the Mir station, but in the 1990s it fell into disrepair and is currently not used. Luch-5A was launched in 2012 to restore the system's operability. In May 2014, 3 Luch multifunctional space relay systems - Luch-5A, Luch-5B and Luch-5V are operating in orbit. In 2014, it is planned to install specialized subscriber equipment on the Russian segment of the station.

Another Russian communication system, Voskhod-M, provides telephone communication between the Zvezda, Zarya, Pirs, Poisk modules and the American segment, as well as VHF radio communication with ground control centers using external antennas. module "Star".

In the US segment, for communication in the S-band (audio transmission) and K u-band (audio, video, data transmission), two separate systems are used, located on the Z1 truss. Radio signals from these systems are transmitted to the American geostationary TDRSS satellites, which allows you to maintain almost continuous contact with the mission control center in Houston. Data from Canadarm2, the European Columbus module and the Japanese Kibo are redirected through these two communication systems, however, the American TDRSS data transmission system will eventually be supplemented by the European satellite system (EDRS) and a similar Japanese one. Communication between the modules is carried out via an internal digital wireless network.

During spacewalks, cosmonauts use a VHF transmitter of the decimeter range. VHF radio communications are also used during docking or undocking by the Soyuz, Progress, HTV, ATV and Space Shuttle spacecraft (although the shuttles also use S- and Ku-band transmitters via TDRSS). With its help, these spacecraft receive commands from the Mission Control Center or from members of the ISS crew. Automatic spacecraft are equipped with their own means of communication. So, ATV ships use a specialized system during rendezvous and docking. Proximity Communication Equipment (PCE), the equipment of which is located on the ATV and on the Zvezda module. Communication is via two completely independent S-band radio channels. PCE begins to function starting from relative ranges of about 30 kilometers, and turns off after the ATV docks to the ISS and switches to interaction via the MIL-STD-1553 onboard bus. To accurately determine the relative position of the ATV and the ISS, a system of laser rangefinders installed on the ATV is used, making accurate docking with the station possible.

The station is equipped with about a hundred ThinkPad laptops from IBM and Lenovo, models A31 and T61P, running Debian GNU/Linux. These are ordinary serial computers, which, however, have been modified for use in the conditions of the ISS, in particular, they have redesigned connectors, a cooling system, take into account the 28 Volt voltage used at the station, and also meet the safety requirements for working in zero gravity. Since January 2010, direct Internet access has been organized at the station for the American segment. Computers aboard the ISS are connected via Wi-Fi to a wireless network and are connected to the Earth at a speed of 3 Mbps for download and 10 Mbps for download, which is comparable to a home ADSL connection.

Bathroom for astronauts

The toilet on the OS is designed for both men and women, looks exactly the same as on Earth, but has a number of design features. The toilet bowl is equipped with fixators for legs and holders for hips, powerful air pumps are mounted in it. The astronaut is fastened with a special spring fastener to the toilet seat, then turns on a powerful fan and opens the suction hole, where the air flow carries all the waste.

On the ISS, the air from the toilets is necessarily filtered to remove bacteria and odor before it enters the living quarters.

Greenhouse for astronauts

Fresh greens grown in microgravity are officially on the menu for the first time on the International Space Station. On August 10, 2015, astronauts will taste lettuce harvested from the Veggie orbital plantation. Many media publications reported that for the first time the astronauts tried their own grown food, but this experiment was carried out at the Mir station.

Scientific research

One of the main goals in the creation of the ISS was the possibility of conducting experiments at the station that require unique conditions of space flight: microgravity, vacuum, cosmic radiation not attenuated by the earth's atmosphere. The main areas of research include biology (including biomedical research and biotechnology), physics (including fluid physics, materials science and quantum physics), astronomy, cosmology and meteorology. Research is carried out with the help of scientific equipment, mainly located in specialized scientific modules-laboratories, part of the equipment for experiments requiring vacuum is fixed outside the station, outside its hermetic volume.

ISS Science Modules

At present (January 2012), the station has three special scientific modules - the American Destiny laboratory, launched in February 2001, the European research module Columbus, delivered to the station in February 2008, and the Japanese research module Kibo ". The European research module is equipped with 10 racks in which instruments for research in various fields of science are installed. Some racks are specialized and equipped for research in biology, biomedicine, and fluid physics. The rest of the racks are universal, in which the equipment can change depending on the experiments being carried out.

The Japanese research module "Kibo" consists of several parts, which were sequentially delivered and assembled in orbit. The first compartment of the Kibo module is a sealed experimental-transport compartment (eng. JEM Experiment Logistics Module - Pressurized Section ) was delivered to the station in March 2008, during the flight of the Endeavor shuttle STS-123. The last part of the Kibo module was attached to the station in July 2009, when the shuttle delivered the leaky Experimental Transport Compartment to the ISS. Experiment Logistics Module, Unpressurized Section ).

Russia has two "Small Research Modules" (MRM) on the orbital station - "Poisk" and "Rassvet". It is also planned to deliver the Nauka multifunctional laboratory module (MLM) into orbit. Only the latter will have full-fledged scientific capabilities, the amount of scientific equipment placed on two MRMs is minimal.

Joint experiments

The international nature of the ISS project facilitates joint scientific experiments. Such cooperation is most widely developed by European and Russian scientific institutions under the auspices of ESA and the Federal Space Agency of Russia. Well-known examples of such cooperation are the Plasma Crystal experiment, dedicated to the physics of dusty plasma, and conducted by the Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics of the Max Planck Society, the Institute for High Temperatures and the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as a number of other scientific institutions in Russia and Germany, a medical and biological experiment " Matryoshka-R”, in which mannequins are used to determine the absorbed dose of ionizing radiation - equivalents of biological objects created at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Cologne Institute of Space Medicine.

The Russian side is also a contractor for contract experiments by ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. For example, Russian cosmonauts tested the ROKVISS robotic experimental system. Robotic Components Verification on ISS- testing of robotic components on the ISS), developed at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, located in Wesling, near Munich, Germany.

Russian studies

Comparison between burning a candle on Earth (left) and in microgravity on the ISS (right)

In 1995, a competition was announced among Russian scientific and educational institutions, industrial organizations to conduct scientific research on the Russian segment of the ISS. In eleven major research areas, 406 applications were received from eighty organizations. After evaluation by RSC Energia specialists of the technical feasibility of these applications, in 1999 the Long-Term Program of Applied Research and Experiments Planned on the Russian Segment of the ISS was adopted. The program was approved by RAS President Yu. S. Osipov and Director General of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (now FKA) Yu. N. Koptev. The first research on the Russian segment of the ISS was started by the first manned expedition in 2000. According to the original ISS project, it was supposed to launch two large Russian research modules (RMs). The electricity needed for scientific experiments was to be provided by the Science and Energy Platform (SEP). However, due to underfunding and delays in the construction of the ISS, all these plans were canceled in favor of building a single science module that did not require large costs and additional orbital infrastructure. A significant part of the research conducted by Russia on the ISS is contract or joint with foreign partners.

Various medical, biological and physical studies are currently being carried out on the ISS.

Research on the American segment

Epstein-Barr virus shown with fluorescent antibody staining technique

The United States is conducting an extensive research program on the ISS. Many of these experiments are a continuation of research carried out during shuttle flights with Spacelab modules and in the joint Mir-Shuttle program with Russia. An example is the study of the pathogenicity of one of the causative agents of herpes, the Epstein-Barr virus. According to statistics, 90% of the US adult population are carriers of a latent form of this virus. Under the conditions of space flight, the immune system is weakened, the virus can become more active and become a cause of illness for a crew member. Experiments to study the virus were launched on the shuttle flight STS-108.

European Studies

Solar observatory installed on the Columbus module

The European Science Module Columbus has 10 Unified Payload Racks (ISPR), although some of them, by agreement, will be used in NASA experiments. For the needs of ESA, the following scientific equipment is installed in the racks: the Biolab laboratory for biological experiments, the Fluid Science Laboratory for research in the field of fluid physics, the European Physiology Modules for experiments in physiology, as well as the European Drawer Rack, which contains equipment for conducting experiments on protein crystallization (PCDF).

During STS-122, external experimental facilities for the Columbus module were also installed: the remote platform for technological experiments EuTEF and the solar observatory SOLAR. It is planned to add an external laboratory for testing general relativity and string theory Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space.

Japanese studies

The research program carried out on the Kibo module includes the study of global warming processes on Earth, the ozone layer and surface desertification, and astronomical research in the X-ray range.

Experiments are planned to create large and identical protein crystals, which are designed to help understand the mechanisms of disease and develop new treatments. In addition, the effect of microgravity and radiation on plants, animals and people will be studied, as well as experiments in robotics, communications and energy will be carried out.

In April 2009, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata conducted a series of experiments on the ISS, which were selected from those proposed by ordinary citizens. The astronaut tried to "swim" in zero gravity, using various styles, including front crawl and butterfly. However, none of them allowed the astronaut to even budge. The astronaut noted at the same time that even large sheets of paper will not be able to correct the situation if they are taken in hand and used as flippers. In addition, the astronaut wanted to juggle a soccer ball, but this attempt was also unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Japanese managed to send the ball back with an overhead kick. Having finished these exercises, which were difficult under weightless conditions, the Japanese astronaut tried to do push-ups from the floor and do rotations in place.

Security questions

space junk

A hole in the radiator panel of the shuttle Endeavor STS-118, formed as a result of a collision with space debris

Since the ISS moves in a relatively low orbit, there is a certain chance that the station or astronauts going into outer space will collide with the so-called space debris. This can include both large objects like rocket stages or out-of-service satellites, and small objects like slag from solid rocket engines, coolants from reactor plants of US-A series satellites, and other substances and objects. In addition, natural objects like micrometeorites pose an additional threat. Considering space velocities in orbit, even small objects can cause serious damage to the station, and in the event of a possible hit in an astronaut's spacesuit, micrometeorites can pierce the skin and cause depressurization.

To avoid such collisions, remote monitoring of the movement of space debris elements is carried out from the Earth. If such a threat appears at a certain distance from the ISS, the station crew receives a warning. Astronauts will have enough time to activate the DAM system (eng. Debris Avoidance Manoeuvre), which is a group of propulsion systems from the Russian segment of the station. The included engines are able to put the station into a higher orbit and thus avoid a collision. In case of late detection of danger, the crew is evacuated from the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft. Partial evacuations took place on the ISS: April 6, 2003, March 13, 2009, June 29, 2011, and March 24, 2012.

Radiation

In the absence of the massive atmospheric layer that surrounds humans on Earth, astronauts on the ISS are exposed to more intense radiation from constant streams of cosmic rays. On the day, crew members receive a dose of radiation in the amount of about 1 millisievert, which is approximately equivalent to the exposure of a person on Earth for a year. This leads to an increased risk of developing malignant tumors in astronauts, as well as a weakening of the immune system. The weak immunity of astronauts can contribute to the spread of infectious diseases among crew members, especially in the confined space of the station. Despite attempts to improve radiation protection mechanisms, the level of radiation penetration has not changed much compared to previous studies, conducted, for example, at the Mir station.

Station body surface

During the inspection of the outer skin of the ISS, traces of vital activity of marine plankton were found on scrapings from the surface of the hull and windows. It also confirmed the need to clean the outer surface of the station due to contamination from the operation of spacecraft engines.

Legal side

Legal levels

The legal framework governing the legal aspects of the space station is diverse and consists of four levels:

• First The level that establishes the rights and obligations of the parties is the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Space Station (eng. Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement - IGA ), signed on January 29, 1998 by fifteen governments of the countries participating in the project - Canada, Russia, USA, Japan, and eleven states - members of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland and Sweden). Article No. 1 of this document reflects the main principles of the project:
  This agreement is a long-term international structure based on sincere partnership for the comprehensive design, creation, development and long-term use of a habitable civil space station for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law.. When writing this agreement, the "Outer Space Treaty" of 1967, ratified by 98 countries, was taken as a basis, which borrowed the traditions of international maritime and air law.
• The first level of partnership is the basis second level called Memorandums of Understanding. Memorandum of Understanding - MOU s ). These memorandums are agreements between NASA and four national space agencies: FKA, ESA, CSA and JAXA. Memorandums are used to describe in more detail the roles and responsibilities of partners. Moreover, since NASA is the appointed manager of the ISS, there are no separate agreements between these organizations directly, only with NASA.
• TO third level includes barter agreements or agreements on the rights and obligations of the parties - for example, a 2005 commercial agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, the terms of which included one guaranteed place for an American astronaut as part of the Soyuz spacecraft crews and part of the useful volume for American cargo on unmanned " Progress".
• Fourth the legal level complements the second (“Memorandums”) and enacts separate provisions from it. An example of this is the Code of Conduct on the ISS, which was developed in pursuance of paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Memorandum of Understanding - legal aspects of subordination, discipline, physical and information security, and other rules of conduct for crew members.

Ownership structure

The ownership structure of the project does not provide for its members a clearly established percentage for the use of the space station as a whole. According to Article 5 (IGA), the jurisdiction of each of the partners extends only to the component of the station that is registered with him, and violations of the law by personnel, inside or outside the station, are subject to proceedings under the laws of the country of which they are citizens.

Interior of the Zarya module

Agreements on the use of ISS resources are more complex. The Russian modules Zvezda, Pirs, Poisk and Rassvet are manufactured and owned by Russia, which retains the right to use them. The planned Nauka module will also be manufactured in Russia and will be included in the Russian segment of the station. The Zarya module was built and delivered into orbit by the Russian side, but this was done at the expense of the United States, so NASA is officially the owner of this module today. For the use of Russian modules and other components of the plant, partner countries use additional bilateral agreements (the aforementioned third and fourth legal levels).

The rest of the station (US modules, European and Japanese modules, trusses, solar panels and two robotic arms) as agreed by the parties are used as follows (in % of the total time of use):

1. Columbus - 51% for ESA, 49% for NASA
2. Kibo - 51% for JAXA, 49% for NASA
3. Destiny - 100% for NASA

In addition to this:

• NASA can use 100% of the truss area;
• Under an agreement with NASA, KSA can use 2.3% of any non-Russian components;
• Crew hours, solar power, use of ancillary services (loading/unloading, communication services) - 76.6% for NASA, 12.8% for JAXA, 8.3% for ESA and 2.3% for CSA.

Legal curiosities

Prior to the flight of the first space tourist, there was no regulatory framework governing space flights by individuals. But after the flight of Dennis Tito, the countries participating in the project developed "Principles" that defined such a concept as "Space Tourist" and all the necessary questions for his participation in the visiting expedition. In particular, such a flight is possible only if there are specific medical conditions, psychological fitness, language training, and a monetary contribution.

The participants of the first cosmic wedding in 2003 found themselves in the same situation, since such a procedure was also not regulated by any laws.

In 2000, the Republican majority in the US Congress passed legislation on the non-proliferation of missile and nuclear technologies in Iran, according to which, in particular, the United States could not purchase equipment and ships from Russia necessary for the construction of the ISS. However, after the Columbia disaster, when the fate of the project depended on the Russian Soyuz and Progress, on October 26, 2005, Congress was forced to pass amendments to this bill, removing all restrictions on “any protocols, agreements, memorandums of understanding or contracts” until January 1, 2012.

Costs

The cost of building and operating the ISS turned out to be much more than originally planned. In 2005, according to the ESA, about 100 billion euros (157 billion dollars or 65.3 billion pounds sterling) would have been spent from the start of work on the ISS project in the late 1980s to its then expected completion in 2010 \ . However, today the end of the operation of the station is planned no earlier than 2024, in connection with the request of the United States, which are not able to undock their segment and continue flying, the total costs of all countries are estimated at a larger amount.

It is very difficult to make an accurate estimate of the cost of the ISS. For example, it is not clear how Russia's contribution should be calculated, since Roscosmos uses significantly lower dollar rates than other partners.

NASA

Assessing the project as a whole, most of NASA's expenses are the complex of activities for flight support and the costs of managing the ISS. In other words, current operating costs account for a much larger proportion of the funds spent than the costs of building modules and other station devices, training crews, and delivery ships.

NASA spending on the ISS, excluding the cost of the "Shuttle", from 1994 to 2005 amounted to 25.6 billion dollars. For 2005 and 2006 there were approximately 1.8 billion dollars. It is assumed that the annual costs will increase, and by 2010 will amount to 2.3 billion dollars. Then, until the completion of the project in 2016, no increase is planned, only inflationary adjustments.

Distribution of budgetary funds

To estimate the itemized list of NASA costs, for example, according to a document published by the space agency, which shows how the $ 1.8 billion spent by NASA on the ISS in 2005 was distributed:

• Research and development of new equipment- 70 million dollars. This amount was, in particular, spent on the development of navigation systems, on information support, and on technologies to reduce environmental pollution.
• Flight support- 800 million dollars. This amount included: per ship, $125 million for software, spacewalks, supply and maintenance of shuttles; an additional $150 million was spent on the flights themselves, avionics, and crew-ship communication systems; the remaining $250 million went to the overall management of the ISS.
• Ship launches and expeditions- $125 million for pre-launch operations at the spaceport; $25 million for medical care; $300 million spent on managing expeditions;
• Flight program- $350 million was spent on the development of the flight program, on the maintenance of ground equipment and software, for guaranteed and uninterrupted access to the ISS.
• Cargo and crews- 140 million dollars were spent on the purchase of consumables, as well as the ability to deliver cargo and crews on Russian Progress and Soyuz.

The cost of the "Shuttle" as part of the cost of the ISS

Of the ten scheduled flights remaining until 2010, only one STS-125 flew not to the station, but to the Hubble telescope

As mentioned above, NASA does not include the cost of the Shuttle program in the main cost of the station, because it positions it as a separate project, independent of the ISS. However, from December 1998 to May 2008, only 5 out of 31 shuttle flights were not associated with the ISS, and out of the eleven scheduled flights remaining until 2011, only one STS-125 flew not to the station, but to the Hubble telescope.

The approximate costs of the Shuttle program for the delivery of cargo and crews of astronauts to the ISS amounted to:

• Excluding the first flight in 1998, from 1999 to 2005, the costs amounted to $24 billion. Of these, 20% (5 billion dollars) did not belong to the ISS. Total - 19 billion dollars.
• From 1996 to 2006, it was planned to spend $ 20.5 billion on flights under the Shuttle program. If we subtract the flight to the Hubble from this amount, then in the end we get the same $ 19 billion.

That is, the total cost of NASA for flights to the ISS for the entire period will be approximately 38 billion dollars.

Total

Taking into account NASA's plans for the period from 2011 to 2017, as a first approximation, you can get an average annual expenditure of $ 2.5 billion, which for the subsequent period from 2006 to 2017 will be $ 27.5 billion. Knowing the costs of the ISS from 1994 to 2005 (25.6 billion dollars) and adding these figures, we get the final official result - 53 billion dollars.

It should also be noted that this figure does not include the significant costs of designing the Freedom space station in the 1980s and early 1990s, and participating in a joint program with Russia to use the Mir station in the 1990s. The developments of these two projects were repeatedly used in the construction of the ISS. Given this circumstance, and taking into account the situation with the Shuttle, we can talk about a more than twofold increase in the amount of expenses, compared with the official one - more than $ 100 billion for the United States alone.

ESA

ESA has calculated that its contribution over the 15 years of the project's existence will be 9 billion euros. Costs for the Columbus module exceed 1.4 billion euros (approximately $2.1 billion), including costs for ground control and command systems. The total ATV development costs are approximately 1.35 billion euros, with each Ariane 5 launch costing approximately 150 million euros.

JAXA

The development of the Japanese Experiment Module, JAXA's main contribution to the ISS, cost approximately 325 billion yen (approximately $2.8 billion).

In 2005, JAXA allocated approximately 40 billion yen (350 million USD) to the ISS program. The annual operating cost of the Japanese experimental module is $350-400 million. In addition, JAXA has pledged to develop and launch the H-II transport ship, with a total development cost of $1 billion. JAXA's 24 years of participation in the ISS program will exceed $10 billion.

Roscosmos

A significant part of the budget of the Russian Space Agency is spent on the ISS. Since 1998, more than three dozen Soyuz and Progress flights have been made, which since 2003 have become the main means of delivering cargo and crews. However, the question of how much Russia spends on the station (in US dollars) is not simple. The currently existing 2 modules in orbit are derivatives of the Mir program, and therefore the costs for their development are much lower than for other modules, however, in this case, by analogy with the American programs, one should also take into account the costs for the development of the corresponding station modules " World". In addition, the exchange rate between the ruble and the dollar does not adequately assess the actual costs of Roscosmos.

A rough idea of ​​the expenses of the Russian space agency on the ISS can be obtained based on its total budget, which for 2005 amounted to 25.156 billion rubles, for 2006 - 31.806, for 2007 - 32.985 and for 2008 - 37.044 billion rubles. Thus, the station spends less than one and a half billion US dollars per year.

CSA

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is a regular partner of NASA, so Canada has been involved in the ISS project from the very beginning. Canada's contribution to the ISS is a three-part mobile maintenance system: a movable trolley that can move along the station's truss structure, a Canadianarm2 robotic arm that is mounted on a movable trolley, and a special Dextre manipulator. ). Over the past 20 years, the CSA is estimated to have invested C$1.4 billion in the station.

Criticism

In the entire history of astronautics, the ISS is the most expensive and, perhaps, the most criticized space project. Criticism can be considered constructive or short-sighted, you can agree with it or dispute it, but one thing remains unchanged: the station exists, by its existence it proves the possibility of international cooperation in space and increases the experience of mankind in space flights, spending huge financial resources on this.

Criticism in the US

The criticism of the American side is mainly aimed at the cost of the project, which already exceeds $100 billion. That money, critics say, could be better spent on robotic (unmanned) flights to explore near space or on science projects on Earth. In response to some of these criticisms, defenders of manned spaceflight say that criticism of the ISS project is shortsighted and that the payoff from manned spaceflight and space exploration is in the billions of dollars. Jerome Schnee Jerome Schnee) estimated the indirect economic contribution from additional revenues associated with space exploration as many times greater than the initial public investment.

However, a statement from the Federation of American Scientists claims that NASA's rate of return on additional revenue is actually very low, except for developments in aeronautics that improve aircraft sales.

Critics also say that NASA often lists third-party developments as part of its achievements, ideas and developments that may have been used by NASA, but had other prerequisites independent of astronautics. Really useful and profitable, according to critics, are unmanned navigation, meteorological and military satellites. NASA widely publicizes additional revenues from the construction of the ISS and from work performed on it, while NASA's official list of expenses is much more concise and secret.

Criticism of scientific aspects

According to Professor Robert Park Robert Park), most of the planned scientific studies are not of high priority. He notes that the goal of most scientific research in the space laboratory is to carry it out in microgravity, which can be done much cheaper in artificial weightlessness (in a special aircraft that flies along a parabolic trajectory (eng. reduced gravity aircraft).

The plans for the construction of the ISS included two science-intensive components - a magnetic alpha spectrometer and a centrifuge module (Eng. Centrifuge Accommodation Module) . The first has been operating at the station since May 2011. The creation of the second one was abandoned in 2005 as a result of the correction of plans for completing the construction of the station. Highly specialized experiments carried out on the ISS are limited by the lack of appropriate equipment. For example, in 2007, studies were conducted on the influence of space flight factors on the human body, affecting such aspects as kidney stones, circadian rhythm (the cyclical nature of biological processes in the human body), and the effect of cosmic radiation on the human nervous system. Critics argue that these studies have little practical value, since the reality of today's exploration of near space is unmanned automatic ships.

Criticism of technical aspects

American journalist Jeff Faust Jeff Foust) argued that maintenance of the ISS required too many expensive and dangerous EVAs. Pacific Astronomical Society The Astronomical Society of the Pacific At the beginning of the design of the ISS, attention was drawn to the too high inclination of the station's orbit. If for the Russian side this reduces the cost of launches, then for the American side it is unprofitable. The concession that NASA made to the Russian Federation due to the geographical location of Baikonur, in the end, may increase the total cost of building the ISS.

In general, the debate in American society is reduced to a discussion of the feasibility of the ISS, in the aspect of astronautics in a broader sense. Some advocates argue that apart from its scientific value, it is an important example of international cooperation. Others argue that the ISS could potentially, with the right efforts and improvements, make flights to and from more economical. One way or another, the main point of responses to criticism is that it is difficult to expect a serious financial return from the ISS, rather, its main purpose is to become part of the global expansion of space flight capabilities.

Criticism in Russia

In Russia, criticism of the ISS project is mainly aimed at the inactive position of the leadership of the Federal Space Agency (FCA) in defending Russian interests in comparison with the American side, which always strictly monitors the observance of its national priorities.

For example, journalists ask questions about why Russia does not have its own orbital station project, and why money is being spent on a project owned by the United States, while these funds could be spent on an entirely Russian development. According to the head of RSC Energia, Vitaly Lopota, the reason for this is contractual obligations and lack of funding.

At one time, the Mir station became a source of experience for the United States in construction and research on the ISS, and after the Columbia accident, the Russian side, acting in accordance with a partnership agreement with NASA and delivering equipment and astronauts to the station, almost single-handedly saved the project. These circumstances gave rise to criticism of the FKA about the underestimation of Russia's role in the project. So, for example, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya noted that Russia's scientific and technical contribution to the project is underestimated, and that the partnership agreement with NASA does not meet the national interests financially. However, it should be taken into account that at the beginning of the construction of the ISS, the US paid for the Russian segment of the station by providing loans, the repayment of which is provided only by the end of construction.

Speaking about the scientific and technical component, journalists note a small number of new scientific experiments carried out at the station, explaining this by the fact that Russia cannot manufacture and supply the necessary equipment to the station due to lack of funds. According to Vitaly Lopota, the situation will change when the simultaneous presence of astronauts on the ISS increases to 6 people. In addition, questions are raised about security measures in force majeure situations associated with a possible loss of control of the station. So, according to cosmonaut Valery Ryumin, the danger is that if the ISS becomes uncontrollable, then it cannot be flooded like the Mir station.

According to critics, international cooperation, which is one of the main arguments in favor of the station, is also controversial. As you know, under the terms of an international agreement, countries are not required to share their scientific developments at the station. In 2006-2007, there were no new large initiatives and large projects in the space sphere between Russia and the United States. In addition, many believe that a country that invests 75% of its funds in its project is unlikely to want to have a full partner, which, moreover, is its main competitor in the struggle for a leading position in outer space.

It is also criticized that significant funds were directed to manned programs, and a number of programs to develop satellites failed. In 2003, Yuri Koptev, in an interview with Izvestia, stated that, in order to please the ISS, space science again remained on Earth.

In 2014-2015, among the experts of the Russian space industry, there was an opinion that the practical benefits of orbital stations have already been exhausted - over the past decades, all practically important research and discoveries have been made:

The era of orbital stations, which began in 1971, will be a thing of the past. Experts do not see practical expediency either in maintaining the ISS after 2020, or in creating an alternative station with similar functionality: “The scientific and practical returns from the Russian segment of the ISS are significantly lower than from the Salyut-7 and Mir orbital complexes. Scientific organizations are not interested in repeating what has already been done.

Magazine "Expert" 2015

Delivery ships

The crews of manned expeditions to the ISS are delivered to the station at the Soyuz TPK according to a "short" six-hour scheme. Until March 2013, all expeditions flew to the ISS on a two-day schedule. Until July 2011, the delivery of goods, the installation of station elements, the rotation of crews, in addition to the Soyuz TPK, were carried out as part of the Space Shuttle program, until the program was completed.

Table of flights of all manned and transport spacecraft to the ISS: