Next stop: ISS
"Be in harmony, yet, be different, "Confucius said.
The International Space Station (ISS) is the most expensive spacecraft item and perhaps one of the most widely known space missions to happen. Particularly this year, it was famous for playing host to two crucial missions in the private space industry. The ISS was visited by four private citizens aboard the Ax-1 flight. Boeing also launched the Starliner space capsule to the ISS after much delay. That being said, let's delve into more details about ISS.
The International Space Station orbits above the southern Pacific Ocean
The ISS is a space station supported primarily by the U.S.A and Russia and, with assistance from other nations of the world, orbiting at a low Earth orbit. Its journey into fruition was undoubtedly a long one. President Ronald Reagan first conceived it as a project called 'Freedom' in the 1980s. That didn't happen within the ten-year time limit the President had set on achieving it. So in the 1990s, after much debate on reducing the cost of the mission and increasing foreign involvement, NASA collaborated with the Russian space agency to launch a single space station instead of two. This was supported by the ESA and JAXA with their respective technologies.
As you know, this brought the world's nations together in pursuing space research. After it started operating in May 2009, a six-person crew was aboard the craft, each crew for a typical duration of six months, to study space and its developments. Over 200 astronauts from 20 nations have been aboard the ISS at different times. Soyuz, a Russian spacecraft, was the crew capsule of the ISS. Although it does have certain political and legal complications in the wake of the Russia- Ukraine war, space research wouldn't be compromised.
Why take on such legal issues, you ask? Well, the ISS is worth it. The station makes it possible to have a continuous presence in space. This enables the crew to conduct research that is not feasible at the ground level. The conditions of space could be studied better, as well as the long-term effects of microgravity on the human body. Thus, the ISS provides us with a unique advantage.
To know more about the International Space Station.
Image credits: nasa.gov.in
- Namita (MS22118)
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