The Continuing Story of The International Space StationPeter Bond describes the development and evolution of space stations, with particular emphasis on the International Space Station, beginning with the revolution that began in 1970, when Salyut 1, the world's first space station was sent into orbit by the Soviet Union. Defeated in the race to the Moon, the Soviets redirected their efforts towards the conquest of near-Earth space. In the next three decades, their increasingly large and sophisticated structures rewrote the history books as cosmonauts continued to push back all space endurance records. Only the U.S. Skylab, a technological cul-de-sac based on surplus Apollo hardware, interrupted this era of Soviet domination. By the mid-1990's, Russian physician Valeri Poliakov had lived continuously for 14 months on board the Mir space station, long enough to travel to Mars and back. The book explains how the human exploitation of low-Earth orbit is about to change. With Mir no longer in existence, all eyes are on the next generation, the International Space Station (ISS). |
Contents
BUILDING A GIANT | 1 |
FROM DREAM TO REALITY | 21 |
HANDSHAKE IN SPACE | 64 |
METAMORPHOSIS | 100 |
COMING AND GOING | 129 |
CONSTRUCTION SITE IN SPACE | 164 |
LIFE ON THE SPACE STATION | 227 |
VALUE FOR MONEY? | 273 |
Common terms and phrases
Air Force airlock American antenna assembly astronauts Atlantis Automated Transfer Vehicle back-up Baikonur Canadarm cargo Claudie Haigneré commander completed cosmonaut craft crew members docking port Endeavour Energia equipment European Space European Space Agency Expedition One crew Expedition Three experiments facilities flight controllers flight engineer Gidzenko hardware hatch Houston human installed International Space Station ISS programme Johnson Space Center Krikalev Kvant launch Logistics Module manoeuvres microgravity million Mir's mission control NASA photo NASA's operations orbit oxygen pilot Pirs pressurised Progress racks radiation return to Earth robotic arm rocket RSC Energia Russian segment Russian Space Salyut satellite scheduled scientific Sergei Krikalev Service Module Shuttle mission Shuttle's Skylab solar arrays solar panels Soviet Soyuz Soyuz spacecraft Space Agency Space Shuttle spacecraft spaceflight spacewalk Spektr supplies thrusters tonnes truss Unity unmanned vehicle Yuri Gidzenko Yuri Usachev Zarya Zvezda