Science News Review

Happy Birthday, International Space Station!

Nov 20 at 6:06pm by Aileen

SFWA

The International Space Station marks its 10th Anniversary this week, in commemoration of the launch of the first bus-sized component – Zarya – on November 20, 1998 from Kazakhstan. Happy Birthday to this great achievement in international cooperation for the exploration of space and the progression of space-based science!

A joint venture of the US’s NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Jaqpan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and 11 members of the European Space Agency – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Do things come any more international than that?

The world’s space-based science conglomerate brags a total of more than 25,000 cubit feet of room after a decade of flights bringing more experiments and more modules, and the participation of 167 astronauts from 14 countries. Recently American astronauts were able to cast their ballots in the General Election from the station, making them the most “absent” of all absentee voters ever!

Estimated to cost around $100 billion over the life of its mission, consensus opinion is that the space station will go down in history as precursor to permanent moon bases, a first step in future journeys to the planet Mars. The station could be abandoned as early as 2011, but may, like several of the recent Mars rovers, end up living well past its life expectancy. Its future is tied to what happens with the US shuttle fleet, and whether or not other nations involved will develop their own fleets to service the station and transport supplies and experiments.

So raise a toast of your favorite to the night sky and consider for a few moments just how far we’ve come since Sputnik. Happy Birthday, ISS!

Links:

Nations Mark 10th Anniversary of ISS
NASA – International Space Station
Wikipedia: International Space Station