Sunday, May 9, 2010
Purpose
The purpose of this website is to inform people about NASA's space stations. The following pictures are of the historic space stations, and captions follow each one.
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First space station in space succesfully launched by the Russians.
First U.S. space station in space.
Collaborative work between 16 nations.
NASA's Historic Space Stations
U.S. Space Stations
- Skylab - 1973-1974
- International Space Station (combined effort) - 1993-present
Russian Space Stations
- Salyut 1 - 1971, first space station
- Salyut 2 - 1973, failure
- Salyut 3 - 1974-1975
- Salyut 4 - 1974-1977
- Salyut 5 - 1976-1977
Salyut 1
First space station in space succesfully launched by the Russians.
Skylab Space Station
First U.S. space station in space.
International Space Station
Collaborative work between 16 nations.
Project Essay
Space exploration has been a large part of the world, and especially the United States, for a long time. With the development of several space stations, humans have learned a substantial amount about life in space. Aspects of the space station programs that deserve some contemplation are the reasons for developing the U.S. space stations, the history of America’s orbiting stations, and the space station’s specifications and descriptions.
The so-called “Space Race” took place years ago in the 1950’s and 60’s between the Russians and the Americans. For multiple reasons, the U.S. wanted to beat the Soviets out in every way possible. The history of the space station started in 1971 when the Russians launched the first successful space station, Salyut 1 (“The History”). With this Soviet jump in space technology, the U.S strove hard to match its nemesis by creating NASA, as well as putting a space station in Earth’s orbit (“A History”). After the monumental Apollo moon missions, the U.S. quickly looked to develop a space station that could support life for an extended period of time, thus resulting in the Skylab.
As for the International Space Station, or ISS, the reasons behind its development were slightly different. The United States wanted to have a permanent space station for a significant time before its approval, mainly for scientific possibilities that would result from it. It was approved in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, which started the ISS program (“A History”). It was a collaborative effort started by the U.S.A. and including all of its allies.
Each of America’s space stations has very important historical components. To start, Skylab was, indeed, America’s first functional space station. Skylab had two main objectives: to show that human beings were able to survive in space for an extended amount of time, and to study astronomy further out in space (“High”). During the three three-manned missions, scientific investigations regarding medical experiments, human adaptability to zero-g, and resource experiments were performed, as well as several others (“High”). Overall, Skylab was the first American made space station that performed a multitude of important experiments in space, a near 0-g environment.
The International Space Station is a far larger project than the Skylab, in the station size, the amount of effort put into it, and the different international influences upon it. Many teams worked on the development of the ISS, and in the process resulted in the first international user workshop for space stations in Copenhagen (“A History”). From the beginning of its construction to the completion date, the ISS will be by far the largest project in space. Some of the space station’s goals include providing a way to do long term space exploration, promoting international partnerships through the building and experiment modes, and maintaining U.S. leadership in space affairs, just to name a few (“High”). By constructing this magnificent space laboratory, there will be countless opportunities to make a variant amount and type of discoveries. In addition, over sixteen nations will have the opportunity to cooperate and promote global good will.
As far as technical specifications go, the Skylab has some important characteristics that made it a decent first space station. This large spacecraft was 91 metric tons, 36 meters high, and 6.7 meters in diameter. Skylab was launched upon a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful one of its time (“A History”). While the Skylab did experience minor malfunctions in losing a solar panel and some external shielding, its survival proved highly significantly (“High”). By incorporating these solar panels, the space station was able to function mostly on solar energy stores. While the Skylab was for the most part, an experimental station, ideas were also proposed of using it as a supply station (“High”).
The International Space Station also has many parts to it, using the ideas from many nations together. Each of the sixteen contributing countries has its own part of the ISS, but the major supporters have their own wing on the ISS. For instance, the U.S., who provided up to 75% of the work and resources, is in charge of all the truss structure of the elaborate space station, as well as the solar panels and nodes that have spacecraft (“High”). In the building of the space station, each country had its own station. The European Space Agency has the Columbus Orbital Facility, Japan has the JEM, or Japanese experiment module, and Russia had basic usage control of whichever of the items they sent wanted (“High”). While each country does technically “own” its section of the ISS, international relationships and good public intentions lead to friendly existence between the astronauts and sharing of certain modules.
Starting in 1994, the construction off the ISS commenced, with its schedule of completion occurring sometime in the near future. The U.S. provided most of the transportation of needed components to the space station, and was generally in charge of this whole process. Its orbit around the Earth is similar to Skylab’s, but different in that it has greater control of its path, and it plans to remain outside Earth’s atmosphere permanently. By developing this 1 million pound, 1303 cubic meters space station, the U.S. and other countries can now perform valuable experiments in space-related fields, hopefully leading the way to improved methods of many different disciplines (“High”). Working on this long, hard project, which is just about to pay off for not only the countries involved, but the whole world.
These space stations have already created such an impact on not only American society, but the world. By building and striving to make human inhabited space stations, humans have already learned an invaluable amount of facts that can and greatly have influenced life as we know it. By learning about space station components like America’s drive for building them, historical significances, and specifications of the space stations, people can learn about how these monumental space stations have influenced the world of today. What the future holds for the space program, but ISS specifically, will be extremely exciting. These developments could potentially lead to some of the greatest discoveries of all time.
"High School Aerospace Scholars." Texas Aerospace Scholars. Web. 12 May 2010..
"The History of Space Stations." Marianne Dyson's Home Page. Web. 11 May 2010..
"A History of U.S. Space Stations." NASA Facts. NASA, June 1997. Web. 9 May 2010.
The so-called “Space Race” took place years ago in the 1950’s and 60’s between the Russians and the Americans. For multiple reasons, the U.S. wanted to beat the Soviets out in every way possible. The history of the space station started in 1971 when the Russians launched the first successful space station, Salyut 1 (“The History”). With this Soviet jump in space technology, the U.S strove hard to match its nemesis by creating NASA, as well as putting a space station in Earth’s orbit (“A History”). After the monumental Apollo moon missions, the U.S. quickly looked to develop a space station that could support life for an extended period of time, thus resulting in the Skylab.
As for the International Space Station, or ISS, the reasons behind its development were slightly different. The United States wanted to have a permanent space station for a significant time before its approval, mainly for scientific possibilities that would result from it. It was approved in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, which started the ISS program (“A History”). It was a collaborative effort started by the U.S.A. and including all of its allies.
Each of America’s space stations has very important historical components. To start, Skylab was, indeed, America’s first functional space station. Skylab had two main objectives: to show that human beings were able to survive in space for an extended amount of time, and to study astronomy further out in space (“High”). During the three three-manned missions, scientific investigations regarding medical experiments, human adaptability to zero-g, and resource experiments were performed, as well as several others (“High”). Overall, Skylab was the first American made space station that performed a multitude of important experiments in space, a near 0-g environment.
The International Space Station is a far larger project than the Skylab, in the station size, the amount of effort put into it, and the different international influences upon it. Many teams worked on the development of the ISS, and in the process resulted in the first international user workshop for space stations in Copenhagen (“A History”). From the beginning of its construction to the completion date, the ISS will be by far the largest project in space. Some of the space station’s goals include providing a way to do long term space exploration, promoting international partnerships through the building and experiment modes, and maintaining U.S. leadership in space affairs, just to name a few (“High”). By constructing this magnificent space laboratory, there will be countless opportunities to make a variant amount and type of discoveries. In addition, over sixteen nations will have the opportunity to cooperate and promote global good will.
As far as technical specifications go, the Skylab has some important characteristics that made it a decent first space station. This large spacecraft was 91 metric tons, 36 meters high, and 6.7 meters in diameter. Skylab was launched upon a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful one of its time (“A History”). While the Skylab did experience minor malfunctions in losing a solar panel and some external shielding, its survival proved highly significantly (“High”). By incorporating these solar panels, the space station was able to function mostly on solar energy stores. While the Skylab was for the most part, an experimental station, ideas were also proposed of using it as a supply station (“High”).
The International Space Station also has many parts to it, using the ideas from many nations together. Each of the sixteen contributing countries has its own part of the ISS, but the major supporters have their own wing on the ISS. For instance, the U.S., who provided up to 75% of the work and resources, is in charge of all the truss structure of the elaborate space station, as well as the solar panels and nodes that have spacecraft (“High”). In the building of the space station, each country had its own station. The European Space Agency has the Columbus Orbital Facility, Japan has the JEM, or Japanese experiment module, and Russia had basic usage control of whichever of the items they sent wanted (“High”). While each country does technically “own” its section of the ISS, international relationships and good public intentions lead to friendly existence between the astronauts and sharing of certain modules.
Starting in 1994, the construction off the ISS commenced, with its schedule of completion occurring sometime in the near future. The U.S. provided most of the transportation of needed components to the space station, and was generally in charge of this whole process. Its orbit around the Earth is similar to Skylab’s, but different in that it has greater control of its path, and it plans to remain outside Earth’s atmosphere permanently. By developing this 1 million pound, 1303 cubic meters space station, the U.S. and other countries can now perform valuable experiments in space-related fields, hopefully leading the way to improved methods of many different disciplines (“High”). Working on this long, hard project, which is just about to pay off for not only the countries involved, but the whole world.
These space stations have already created such an impact on not only American society, but the world. By building and striving to make human inhabited space stations, humans have already learned an invaluable amount of facts that can and greatly have influenced life as we know it. By learning about space station components like America’s drive for building them, historical significances, and specifications of the space stations, people can learn about how these monumental space stations have influenced the world of today. What the future holds for the space program, but ISS specifically, will be extremely exciting. These developments could potentially lead to some of the greatest discoveries of all time.
"High School Aerospace Scholars." Texas Aerospace Scholars. Web. 12 May 2010.
"The History of Space Stations." Marianne Dyson's Home Page. Web. 11 May 2010.
"A History of U.S. Space Stations." NASA Facts. NASA, June 1997. Web. 9 May 2010.