EARLY SPACE STATIONS
Salyut 1 was the first space station launched into orbit by the Soviet Union, and it was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR, USSR on April 19, 1971. The space station was designed to be manned by a crew of three, and it was equipped with a variety of scientific instruments and equipment for conducting experiments in space.
The crew of the Soyuz 10 mission attempted to dock with the station in April 1971, but were unsuccessful due to a technical malfunction.
The first successful manned mission to Salyut 1 was carried out by the Soyuz 11 crew in June 1971, but tragically all three crew members died on their return to Earth due to a decompression accident.
Despite this setback, the launch of Salyut 1 marked a significant milestone in human space exploration and paved the way for the construction of larger and more advanced space stations in the decades that followed.
Skylab was the United States' space station that orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, when it fell back to the planet amid huge worldwide media attention.
NASA ground controllers were shocked to hear a female voice from Skylab, which had an all-male crew on September 10, 1973. The woman startled capsule communicator Bob Crippen by calling him by name, and then explaining: "The boys haven't had a home-cooked meal in so long I thought I'd bring one up." They had been pranked by one of the astronauts, Owen Kay Garriott, who used a recording of his wife.
On December 28, 1973, after having worked for 16 hours a day without breaks for six weeks, the Skylab crew mutinied and shut off communications with ground control for a day.
When the Skylab space station burned up in Earth's atmosphere in 1979, the government of Western Australia fined NASA $400 for littering. It was eventually paid in 2009.
The first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit was the Soviet Union’s Mir in 1986. Mir means peace.
Mir hosted the first wheat grown in space, the longest human presence, and survived several fires.
The Russian Federal Space Agency de-orbited the 15-year-old space station Mir on March 23, 2001, causing it to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and break up over the Pacific Ocean. When it began falling apart, astronaut Mike Foal said it was “a bit like a frat house, but more organized and better kept.”
The agreement to build an International Space Station was signed by USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada in 1993. It was completed in 2011.
The initial spacewalk to begin the assembly of the International Space Station was held on December 7, 1998, following the launch of the first section of the station, Zarya, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on November 20, 1998. The spacewalk attached the U.S.-built Unity node to Zarya.
Since the arrival of Expedition 1 on November 2, 2000, the International Space Station has been continuously occupied. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir.
This means that November 2, 2000 was the last time all living humans were on earth at the same time. Ever since that date the ISS has been occupied continuously.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station see 15 sunrises and 15 sunsets a day, averaging one every 45 minutes.
At $150 billion, the International Space Station is the most expensive thing ever built. This includes NASA's budget of $58.7 billion (inflation-unadjusted) for the station from 1985 to 2015 ($72.4 billion in 2010 dollars), Russia's $12 billion, Europe's $5 billion, Japan's $5 billion, Canada's $2 billion, and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station; estimated at $1.4 billion each, or $50.4 billion in total.
The ISS circles the Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of almost five miles a second.
The ISS is always occupied and has a crew of six people. It also has greenhouses, a laboratory, a gym and a sleep station.
American and Russian astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have different water supplies. Its because the Americans drink recycled urine while the Russians refuse to do so. The NASA astronauts even collect the Russians urine to increase their own supply.
The area code for the International Space Station phone is a Houston area code, 281.
The dimensions of the ISS are about 356 feet by 240 feet, which is bigger than a football pitch.
On Earth, the International Space Station weighs 925,000 pounds, more than 11 full semi trucks. In space, it weighs almost nothing.
After six months on the International Space Station, astronauts are 0.0007 seconds younger than people on Earth.
The International Space Station's treadmill is named after Stephen Colbert.
The ISS relies on solar panel arrays and rechargeable nickel-hydrogen batteries.
The reason the International Space Station doesn't fall back to The Earth it's because once a month it fires its thrusters to regain the lost altitude.
In 2014 the International Space Station was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but it lost out to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai.
A space station is a structure built in space for astronauts to live in and perform scientific experiments. It is distinguished from other spacecraft by lack of major propulsion or landing systems.
Space stations have also been used for military purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977.
The duration record for time spent on a space station is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995.
Thanks to 3D printing, NASA can send plans for new tools and equipment to the Space Station over email. Instead of waiting months for gear, Astronauts can print new gear in hours.
Source Daily Express
Skylab was the United States' space station that orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, when it fell back to the planet amid huge worldwide media attention.
NASA ground controllers were shocked to hear a female voice from Skylab, which had an all-male crew on September 10, 1973. The woman startled capsule communicator Bob Crippen by calling him by name, and then explaining: "The boys haven't had a home-cooked meal in so long I thought I'd bring one up." They had been pranked by one of the astronauts, Owen Kay Garriott, who used a recording of his wife.
On December 28, 1973, after having worked for 16 hours a day without breaks for six weeks, the Skylab crew mutinied and shut off communications with ground control for a day.
When the Skylab space station burned up in Earth's atmosphere in 1979, the government of Western Australia fined NASA $400 for littering. It was eventually paid in 2009.
The first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit was the Soviet Union’s Mir in 1986. Mir means peace.
 |
| Earth and the Mir station |
Mir hosted the first wheat grown in space, the longest human presence, and survived several fires.
The Russian Federal Space Agency de-orbited the 15-year-old space station Mir on March 23, 2001, causing it to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and break up over the Pacific Ocean. When it began falling apart, astronaut Mike Foal said it was “a bit like a frat house, but more organized and better kept.”
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
The agreement to build an International Space Station was signed by USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada in 1993. It was completed in 2011.
The initial spacewalk to begin the assembly of the International Space Station was held on December 7, 1998, following the launch of the first section of the station, Zarya, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on November 20, 1998. The spacewalk attached the U.S.-built Unity node to Zarya.
 |
| ISS under construction |
Since the arrival of Expedition 1 on November 2, 2000, the International Space Station has been continuously occupied. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir.
This means that November 2, 2000 was the last time all living humans were on earth at the same time. Ever since that date the ISS has been occupied continuously.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station see 15 sunrises and 15 sunsets a day, averaging one every 45 minutes.
At $150 billion, the International Space Station is the most expensive thing ever built. This includes NASA's budget of $58.7 billion (inflation-unadjusted) for the station from 1985 to 2015 ($72.4 billion in 2010 dollars), Russia's $12 billion, Europe's $5 billion, Japan's $5 billion, Canada's $2 billion, and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station; estimated at $1.4 billion each, or $50.4 billion in total.
 |
| A rearward view of the International Space Station |
The ISS circles the Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of almost five miles a second.
The ISS is always occupied and has a crew of six people. It also has greenhouses, a laboratory, a gym and a sleep station.
American and Russian astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have different water supplies. Its because the Americans drink recycled urine while the Russians refuse to do so. The NASA astronauts even collect the Russians urine to increase their own supply.
The area code for the International Space Station phone is a Houston area code, 281.
The dimensions of the ISS are about 356 feet by 240 feet, which is bigger than a football pitch.
On Earth, the International Space Station weighs 925,000 pounds, more than 11 full semi trucks. In space, it weighs almost nothing.
After six months on the International Space Station, astronauts are 0.0007 seconds younger than people on Earth.
The International Space Station's treadmill is named after Stephen Colbert.
 |
| Astronaut Frank De Winne on the TVIS treadmill |
The ISS relies on solar panel arrays and rechargeable nickel-hydrogen batteries.
The reason the International Space Station doesn't fall back to The Earth it's because once a month it fires its thrusters to regain the lost altitude.
In 2014 the International Space Station was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but it lost out to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai.
FUN SPACE STATION FACTS
A space station is a structure built in space for astronauts to live in and perform scientific experiments. It is distinguished from other spacecraft by lack of major propulsion or landing systems.
Space stations have also been used for military purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977.
The duration record for time spent on a space station is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995.
Thanks to 3D printing, NASA can send plans for new tools and equipment to the Space Station over email. Instead of waiting months for gear, Astronauts can print new gear in hours.
Source Daily Express
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