The International Space Station is one of the most important things mankind has ever
built, but what exactly is it, and how did it get there?
Join me as we explore the history of the ISS!
8.
What Is The International Space Station?
If you wish to know a very literal definition of the International Space Station, that would
be: "a space station that acts as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory
in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy,
meteorology, and other fields.
The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions
to the Moon and Mars."
Whether you understand it or not, the ISS is one of the most important things in the
world of space research and technology.
To that end, it wasn't one nation that helped make this thing real, rather, it was a bunch
of them coming together to make it happen.
In fact, the people who helped build, launch, and run the ISS include NASA (United States),
Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
So that's five nations coming together to further their knowledge of space.
That international flavor also goes to the crew of the ISS, as they're often times a
mix of people from the various countries (and their allies) who helped make and run the
station.
Now you might be thinking, "Is such a station really necessary?"
In simple terms, yes, yes it is.
Because humanity is aiming to embrace the stars, and settle on other planets, which
means we need to be ready for anything space throws at us...which is hard to prepare for
when you're on Earth and thus can't really get to the nitty-gritty of what space can
do to you.
So thus, the various nations came together to make this space station happen so that
they could prepare for what was coming.
7.
History and Function Of The Station The idea of the International Space Station
started up in the 1990's, and once an agreement was worked out between the five nations listed
before, things got to work.
True to that collaboration, the ISS is made up of parts of from all five countries, truly
showing the unity that it took to make the project happen.
Furthermore, when the pieces were all ready, they were launched into space and put together
robotically for safety and true security.
This was done in 1998.
Piece by piece the International Space Station was born, to be clear though there are two
"halves" to it.
There's one half of it that is run solely by the Russians, and the other half that is
run by the US, the other countries, and their allies.
All told, 239 people across 19 countries have visited the ISS, and all kinds of experiments,
procedures, and advances have been made on the station.
The first crew was put on the station in the year 2000.
One of the reasons the station is able to help out with space experiments is because
of its speed and position.
In terms of location the ISS is 220 miles above the ground, in what is referred to as
"low orbit".
That means that gravity technically has an effect on it (which is why the International
Space Station is able to orbit the planet), but those that are within the station are
in a state of "freefall", also referred to as Microgravity.
Which is why anyone who is on the station feels weightless.
What might surprise you though is the speed that the station travels at.
On average, it goes about 17,227 miles per hour.
Which roughly translates to about 5 miles per second.
This means that in about 90 minutes, the ISS will already have traveled around the Earth.
That's really fast for a space station.
But it needs to be fast in certain ways, and the ability to move around the Earth helps
in all sorts of special priorities and assignments for the crew.
6.
What Gets Tested Up On the ISS?
We'll be diving into what gets experimented on in the International Space Station in a
little bit, but in a grander scope, the ISS serves as a perfect testing ground for all
kinds of items.
Which shouldn't be too much of a surprise given that the whole place is basically a
laboratory.
For example, since this is a space station, and five space agencies are using it to test
things about space while in space...one of the things that they like to do is send up
new space parts for things like shuttles, probes, satellites, etc, and have the crews
test them for all sorts of faults, glitches, how they'll react under microgravity, radiation,
and more.
If they can survive on the ISS, then they can survive in space when going on missions
to planets, moons, etc.
Another thing that honestly gets tested is the astronauts themselves.
Think about it, gravity doesn't just test random objects we send into space, it affects
human beings as well.
So because of that, the humans on the ISS become their own kind of guinea pigs.
Which was good in a way when we realized almost too late that microgravity has a negative
affect on the human body when not controlled.
So because of that, the ISS now has a full-on gym that allows astronauts to exercise in
order to keep their bodies strong for when they get back to Earth.
And this is still only the beginning of what they try and test up on the International
Space Station, because with everything that needs to be done up there, and the somewhat
limited time each group of astronauts have to do experiments, everything and anything
can be tested.
5.
Wait, Who Pays For This Again?
Yeah, that's a tricky question for the most part, because you'd think that with 5 nations
being a part of this project that they'd be able to split the bill and all that and live
happily ever after, right?
Yeah...not so much.
Russia and the United States actually pays for most of it, because they have half of
the station dedicated to themselves for the most part.
Meaning one side for Russia, the other for the US and their allies.
Russia's even endorsed the ISS to continue running for at least the next 5 years.
Though they have also noted that they're tempted to break off their own section of the station
and make their own fully-Russian station in its place.
Which they have the rights to do via the treaties and negotiations, but as of yet haven't fully
committed to it yet.
The other nations also do their part though, and they help front the bill when key repairs,
expansions, and more are put into it.
Would you like to know how much it cost to make?
$150 BILLION dollars.
AND, the yearly maintenance of the station is about $3-4 billion dollars.
So as you can see, this isn't small, or cheap, but you can bet that it produces results that
make people like NASA and the other nations happy because if they didn't, they'd just
drop it out of the sky.
And yeah, they actually can do that, and have done that with similar stations in the past.
4.
Experiments Part 1 You might be curious as to what kinds of experiments
astronauts get up to in space shuttles and the International Space Station.
The simple answer is: a lot.
Because there's still a lot that we don't know about space, and more importantly, how
certain object interact with space as a whole.
For example, have you ever wondered how things like bacteria would react to being in microgravity?
No, I bet you haven't, but NASA had a curiosity about it.
So, they decided to send some samples up in two different space missions, and what they
found was actually quite frightening.
Mainly, they found that things like Salmonella actually get more intense in space.
And not just by a little, but 3-7 times MORE intense than they are on Earth.
Which means you REALLY don't want to get Salmonella or other things in space, just saying.
So how does that work?
It has to do with conditions.
On a space shuttle or the ISS, with no gravity and certain "space lights" filling the place,
the bacteria thinks it's inside a human gut (where it reacts with things and makes people
sick).
Thankfully, because of this research, a special vaccine was created to counter the hyper-virulent
bacteria.
As well as finding a special protein within it that actually regulates how it acts in
certain conditions.
Pretty cool, huh?
And that's why you need to ask ALL the questions when it comes to doing tests in space.
What's more, if microgravity can do this to one kind of bacteria, what else could it do
to other bacteria?
The answers will be found...eventually.
3.
Experiments Part 2 Whether on Earth or in space, having a fire
breakout in an enclosed area is never a good thing.
In fact, it was a flash fire that killed the astronauts of the first Apollo Space Mission.
In space though, you have to wonder not only how fire will interact with the environment,
but also, how to put it out.
Under very controlled circumstances on the International Space Station, these experiments
were carried out with interesting results.
First off, fires in space don't burn the same way as on Earth.
Without gravity compressing the oxygen all around them, they burn small, and at lower
temperatures than expected.
They can also burn with less Oxygen present.
Due to this, the flames need to be doused with higher concentrations of retardants and
extinguishers.
However, there are some space fires that'll apparently continue to burn despite being
extinguished.
Which is bad, obviously.
You want more experiments?
How about plants?
We often take for granted the simple actions and things that happen on Earth that may not
work exactly how you think in space, which is why these experiments happen.
One such question was whether plants could actually grow in space.
So, in 2012 on the International Space Station, a zucchini plant was grown, and the astronaut
who took care of it, Don Pettit, actually wrote blog posts (from the perspective of
the plant) to talk about its growth.
This was not only important because of the effects of gravity on plants, but how potential
space radiation would affect plants too.
The obvious implications of this is that if plants can be grown in space or on other planets
that aren't like Earth, they could help provide both Oxygen and food for the crews and colonists
on long-term missions.
So as you can see, these experiments help shape our knowledge of what life can be like
in space, and even when experiments fail or don't produce the results you think, it still
broadens what we can do and learn from space itself.
2.
The Fall Of The International Space Station At present, the International Space Station
is scheduled to remain working until 2030 barring something happening to it in space
or the budget being pulled (which is unlikely though not impossible given the state of the
world and space at this time).
But that raises a rather large and curious question.
Mainly, what happens to the ISS when its mission is done?
Does it just remain is space?
Will it be the latest piece of space junk to just roam about the atmosphere?
Actually...no.
Because while it's true that NASA and the other space agencies have done a rather terrible
job of keeping our atmosphere clean, they're not going to let the ISS hover there.
Rather, they're going to let it crash back down to Earth!
...ok, only in a small way.
You see, stations have dropped out of the sky before, but when they do, they drop into
the ocean.
Specifically, they drop to a point known as Point Nemo.
This is a spot in the ocean where life is very limited, and it's over 1600 miles away
from any other point of land.
So, when the time comes for the ISS to fall, that's where they're going to aim it.
Now the whole station won't fall into this one spot.
The atmosphere will rip it to shreds, burning it up, melting it down, and overall making
it a lot smaller, which means it'll go into the ocean without much issue, and without
harming a lot of life.
Short of blowing it up (which has its own problems and such), it's the best option available.
1.
What Space Station Will Be Next?
So if the International Space Station "dies" in 2030, what will be the next space station
to go up?
That is currently classified, but some countries like the Russians already have plans in mind
as we've noted.
But no matter what, you can bet that a newer station will be going up eventually.
And by the time 2030 comes around, we could have all sorts of advances in technology that
allow us to make a space station that is even more advanced than the ISS.
For example, by that time we might have artificial gravity worked out.
That way the astronauts don't have to just float in space, they can walk on it.
Furthermore, it could be that by that time, the idea of having humanity living in space
stations like the ISS is more probable.
The ideas of "space elevators" and "commercial space travel" are floating around right now,
so who knows where it'll be in a decade or so?
In the end, the ISS is going to end its mission eventually, but what comes after that might
just be bigger and better.
Thanks for watching everyone!
What did you think of this in-depth look at the International Space Station?
Would you like to be one of the people that gets to live in it?
Or would you rather stay here on Earth until more advanced stations are built?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!