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The International Space Station turns 10
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first launched module of the International Space Station (ISS). The module Zarya was lifted into orbit on November 20th, 1998 by a Russian Proton rocket lifting off from Baikonur, Kazhakstan. In the decade since, 44 manned flights and 34 unmanned flights have carried further modules, solar arrays, support equipment, supplies and a total of 167 human beings from 15 countries to the ISS, and it still has a ways to go until it is done. Originally planned to be complete in 2003, the target date for completion is now 2011. Aside from time spent on construction, ISS crew members work on a good deal of research involving biology and physics in conditions of microgravity. If humans are ever to leave the Earth for extended periods, the ISS is designed to be the place where we will discover the best materials, procedures and safety measures to make it a reality. (32 photos total)
In December 1998, the crew of Space Shuttle Mission STS-88 began construction of the International Space Station - Astronaut James Newman is seen here making final connections the U.S.-built Unity node to the Russian-built Zarya module. The crew carried a large-format IMAX camera from which this picture was taken. (NASA)
Backdropped against a blanket of heavy cloud cover, the Russian-built FGB, also called Zarya, approaches the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the U.S.-built Node 1, also called Unity (foreground) on December 6th, 1998. Inside Endeavour's cabin, the STS-88 crew readied the remote manipulator system (RMS) for Zarya capture as they awaited the rendezvous. (NASA) #
Blanketing clouds form the backdrop for this 70mm scene of the connected Zarya and Unity modules after having been released from Endeavour's cargo bay a bit earlier on December 4th, 1998. Six crew members, who had earlier spent the majority of their on-duty mission time working on the tandem of space hardware, watched the joined modules from Endeavour in a survey and fly-around mode. (NASA) #
Astronaut Robert L. Curbeam, STS-98 mission specialist, was photographed by a member of the Expedition One crew in the newly installed Destiny laboratory during the second of three space walks on February 12th, 2001. Ahead of schedule, the astronauts connected several computer and electrical cables between the docking port and the lab; unveiled the lab's large, high-quality window (through which this photo was taken) and attached an exterior shutter; and repositioned a movable foot platform they had taken inside Atlantis on the first spacewalk for a slight adjustment. (NASA) #
Space shuttle Endeavour is shown after rollback of the rotating service structure. The rollback was in preparation for liftoff on the STS-126 mission with a crew of seven. Above Endeavour's external tank is the vent hood, known as the "beanie cap," at the end of the gaseous oxygen vent arm, extending from the fixed service structure. Below is the orbiter access arm with the White Room at the end, flush against the shuttle. The rotating structure provides protected access to the shuttle for changeout and servicing of payloads at the pad. Photo taken Nov. 14, 2008. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) #
This high-angle image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis backdropped over a mountainous coastline was photographed on February 16th, 2001 by the three-man Expedition One crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shortly after the shuttle and the outpost unlinked following several days of joint operations of the two crews. The scene was recorded with a digital still camera. (NASA) #
The Phantom Torso, seen here on May 13th, 2001 in the Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS), is designed to measure the effects of radiation on organs inside the body by using a torso that is similar to those used to train radiologists on Earth. The torso is equivalent in height and weight to an average adult male. It contains radiation detectors that will measure, in real-time, how much radiation the brain, thyroid, stomach, colon, and heart and lung area receive on a daily basis. The data will be used to determine how the body reacts to and shields its internal organs from radiation, which will be important for longer duration space flights. (NASA) #
Silhouetted over Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is seen on October 11th, 2000 in a configuration soon to be changed, once the approaching STS-92 crew adds its important new changes. If oriented with Earth's horizon on the left, the ISS elements, from the left, are Node 1 or Unity, the functional cargo block or Zarya, the service module or Zvezda and the Progress supply ship. In a matter of days, the crew went on to add the Z1 Truss structure and a third pressurized mating adapter. (NASA) #
Astronaut Donald R. Pettit, Expedition 6 NASA ISS science officer, photographs his helmet visor during a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) on January 15th, 2003. Pettit's arms and camera are visible in the reflection of his helmet visor. Astronaut Kenneth D. Bowersox, mission commander, is also visible in visor reflection, upper right. (NASA) #
An overhead view of the exterior of the Space Shuttle Atlantis' crew cabin, part of its payload bay doors and docking system was provided by Expedition 16 crewmembers. Before docking with the International Space Station, astronaut Steve Frick, STS-122 commander, flew the shuttle through a roll pitch maneuver or basically a backflip to allow the space station crew a good view of Atlantis' heat shield. Using digital still cameras equipped with both 400 and 800 millimeter lenses, the ISS crewmembers took a number of photos of the shuttle's thermal protection system and sent them down to teams on the ground for analysis. Photo taken February 9th, 2008. (NASA) #
The ISS, seen following undocking at 1:13 p.m. (CST), December 9, 2000. This is one of the first images of the entire station with its new solar array panels deployed. Before separation, the shuttle and space station had been docked to one another for 7 days. Endeavour moved downward from the space station, then began a tail-first circle at a distance of about 500 feet. The maneuver, with pilot Michael J. Bloomfield at the controls, took about an hour. (NASA) #
This medium close-up view in the now densely-equipped Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station shows one floating ball-shaped item which is actually one of the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) on January 27th, 2008. Cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko, Expedition 16 flight engineer representing Russia's Federal Space Agency, is also visible in the background. (NASA) #
The Canadarm2 (center) and solar array panel wings on the International Space Station are featured in this image photographed by a crewmember during the mission's first planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA) while Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-118) was docked with the station on August 11th, 2007. To see a larger panorama (stitched together with another photo of the Endeavour), click here. (NASA) #
This view features a reboost of the International Space Station (ISS) in action. Ground controllers at Mission Control Moscow ignited the thrusters of a Progress rocket docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module on April 4th, 2003. The 14-minute firing raised the average altitude of the station by about 3 km. One of the Expedition 6 crewmembers captured this picture of the yellow-glowing thrusters from a window in the Service Module. (NASA) #
Astronaut Stephen Robinson rides the 17-meter-long Canadarm2 during the STS-114 mission of the space shuttle Discovery to the ISS in August of 2005. The Canadarm2 aboard the ISS has multiple joints and is capable of maneuvering payloads as massive as 116,000 kilograms, equivalent to a fully loaded bus. (NASA) #
The ISS is seen moving away from the Space Shuttle Atlantis on June 19th, 2007. Earlier the STS-117 and Expedition 15 crews concluded about eight days of cooperative work onboard the shuttle and station. Astronaut Lee Archambault, STS-117 pilot, was at the controls for the departure and fly-around, which gave Atlantis' crew a look at the station's new expanded configuration. (NASA) #
A spacesuit-turned-satellite called SuitSat began its orbit around the Earth after it was released by the ISS Expedition 12 crewmembers during a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) on Feb. 3, 2006. SuitSat, an unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit, was outfitted by the crew with three batteries, internal sensors and a radio transmitter, which faintly transmitted recorded voices of school children to amateur radio operators worldwide. The suit entered the atmosphere and burned a few weeks later. (NASA) #
The ISS is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation. Earlier the STS-124 and Expedition 17 crews concluded almost nine days of cooperative work onboard the shuttle and station. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 6:42 a.m. (CDT) on June 11th, 2008. (NASA) #
Astronaut Steve Bowen, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) on November 18th, 2008, as construction and maintenance continue on the ISS. During the six-hour, 52-minute spacewalk, Bowen and astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (out of frame), mission specialist, worked to clean and lubricate part of the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ) and to remove two of SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies. The spacewalkers also removed a depleted nitrogen tank from a stowage platform on the outside of the complex and moved it into Endeavour's cargo bay. (NASA) #
More links and information
Last chance: Astronauts venture on final spacewalk - AP Story about STS-126, 11/24
ISS Gallery - NASA page
International Space Station - Wikipedia Entry
International Space Station - NASA page
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Ahh, #96, quite right, bad choice of top! these guys should have done some serious research before going up there!
#103, ask a photographist. No stars because the apature and shutter speeds are set for close range photos in dim light, and are not open long enough to recieve the fraction of light emmitted by other light sources..... or something like that, see the posts on the Encladease moon photos also on here.
These men and women (how does she wash her hair to keep it so clean?) are taking the tiny steps that will support the long term future of the Human race. They need much more money not less. And any other opinion is short sighted foolish selfishness, and people need to grasp reality a bit more.
Carry on ISS, many more years too you.
How can I be there ?
pic #18 is jus amazing!! only in space.
#71 - I'm sure you meant JAMEStown, not Jonestown: that is where hundreds of followers of Rev. James Jones drank cyanide-lace Kool-Aid. Jamestown is the colony in Virginia.
Great photos! Thank you!
"Weight in space" (at that altitude) is only slightly less than than on earth. However weight in orbit is almost zero. Stop that sucker and it will fall like a very heavy piece of space junk. That aside ..wonderful pictures.
The future of Earth: it's ability to support life is waning. 100 or 200 years maybe it for man on Earth. Man has abused Earth for far too long. So, the future of man is not on Earth, but in space. Sadly, nothing in our solar system looks promising as a new home for 'us,' and we don't have the technology yet to get any of us to the next star, which is 4.3 Light-Years away (that's 186,200 miles per second for 4.3 years to get there). We are a flash in the pan here: space is our only hope. So. how much money is too much to solve THIS problem. That's the real BIG picture.
Never seen fotos like this. Absolutly great.
Thank you
I think this fantastic, only God can make this, I love Jesus, I know that God put this man for manager everything, and the man make this history in this word. Congratulations people who are in this parts.
from Brazil - Sao Paulo - Bauru city
I am always amazed and grateful when we receive any picture or information regarding our Space Program. Thankful to those brave men/women who have dedicated themselves to achieve this goal!!! Grateful to the bravery of our astronauts who put their lives so as to better our planet with scientific experiments helping mankind.
May God always bless all workers, engineers, scientists, astronauts and, of course, God, who without nothing could be achieved.
Coming back again to weightlessness issue, remember it is zero only when you are inside freely falling object like spaceship or any other container. As soon as you get out of it, the heavenly object whosoever is having a pull will pull you down to its surface. All objects exerts some amount of gravitational pull to others depending on their mass. When earth is pulling you, you are also pulling it towards yourself. I hope things are clear now.
Splendid :)
This is the next best thing to being there..........Thanks
Now that is what we call............H U G E.......FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHS
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these photos and reminding us of the unlimited potential for achievement when we supplant superstition and ignorance with science and reason.
Okay, now I know what lens that is in #7 but what camera is mounted to it? It is Nikon but I don't recognize the style.
From the stone ages to here and to the future.....we have come so far........
And I thought buildind aircraft was technical--what next
this big fhoto is very very very very very i like and have.may i Subscription.thi fhoto
This pictures are WONDERFUL,AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE.
Estas fotos são magníficas, maravilhosas e inacreditáveis.
they are awsome
concerning the picture of red planet and object that resembals a log if u will look at whole picture consentrating on black objects and considering picture is not 3d the objects apear to this old plowboy to be erosion water carving into rock making a flat surface or river bank wall look left and right from darker objectsand u see chanellc or a sream bed continueing on its my best guess and that cums from examing river banks and erosion in bare fields after heavy down pore rains also notice that tire marks are not on lower part of the wall thats cause tire didnt touch at fall off
Absolutely GREAT S**T! Worth every frigging penny!!
Wow! I am definitely lovin' these pics! ESP # 30! What a view! Ahhhhh! Hopefully, I'll be there someday!
Outstanding photo's.
These pictures are "out of this world" Ha ha. These pictures are beautiful!
Hope to see more in the future.
"Subhanallah!"
(Glory to God!)
Fantastic pictures. Would it be possible to get NASA to run our political elections so that the results are announced the moment the polls close with no need for recounts?
Houston, we have a problem
Pic 31 also shows Jules Verne (#1) Euro ATV docked, center of frame, with "X" solar panels. A VERY successful mission from what I read. Can't beliebe the caption didn't explain this vehicle.
Yes, and wow the photos are amazing, I applaud all and any space exploration.....but does any one else in the world besides me wonder why we can send men into space and back again.....but not make our vehicles make more that 30 miles per gallon........kinda baffles me????????
Is there a conspiracy going on here...........come on.......I am not he only one who has wondered the same thing??????
Wake up Earthings
#119 said: "Coming back again to weightlessness issue, remember it is zero only when you are inside freely falling object like spaceship or any other container. As soon as you get out of it, the heavenly object whosoever is having a pull will pull you down to its surface."
Uh, no. An astronaut in a spacesuit outside the ISS is in more or less the same position as an astronaut inside the ISS in terms of how quickly they will fall to Earth. The key factor here is friction, or rather the absence of it. If you're traveling in an airplane and you jump out of it then you'll slow down quickly due to the friction of the air on your body. If you're in the ISS and you step out of it in your space suit then you will still be traveling at the same speed as the ISS because there is essentially nothing to slow you down. At that point, how quickly you will fall to Earth depends on how quickly your orbit decays, which is dependent on mass, surface area, etc., and how they interact with what little atmosphere there is at that altitude.
dearest "somewhere"... Let me try plain English Physics: We measure payload in terms of let's say pounds to accomplish lift off from earth's surface. So you are correct to know that the payload's weight is not equal once it is in space. But other characteristics usually become important, such as its volume or density, mass or thickness. .And once in space we have to think in terms of applied force and speed and strength in overcoming the payload's resistance to changes and movement.. Characteristics such as being solid, or liquid, or gas or any combo take on importance. Think of these variables as traits of personality and character which now demand more attention than weight does. Hope this helped. weweight.wIweweight.,..aandandandaappreciation.appreciationndaaaaappappreciation.
Bravo! I hate to think about the cost of these cameras, and the cost of getting them up there, but you see photos like this and it all seems to be worth it.
I like your picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE the pictures. I actually work at Kennedy Space Center. The question about washing her hair, they take sponge baths in the ISS. Less water waste. She probably didn't wash it for the entire mission. I believe your weight is 1/8th of what it is on earth. The ISS travels at 17,500 mph and orbits the earth every 92 min. It stays on that orbit because if it falls closer the earths gravity would pull it down. Any farther out and it would float off into space. They can boost it up as it falls or the shuttles can when they are attached to the ISS. In zero G they can form a perfect cyystal which helps in the medical field. On earth it would be deformed. I will be sad when they retire the shuttles. It is such a good program!
very good i like go to space tanck you for pictures
I really enjoyed the pictures.
About the comment 144: ... I believe your weight is 1/8th of what it is on earth. ...
It would be 1/6 th, if the station is on the Moon. But at the station, that is in free flight, weight equals zero.
realy i want to look out of this worled. all pictures are good but i want to look other plantes so send to that type of pictures,good work.
This pictures are WONDERFUL
@Miguel, #78
I got the very same impression scanning through the dozends of comments on the mass/weight topic.
Pictured results transform from 'Space' minds. What a technology !
Here's a little analogy for those still struggling with the weight/mass dichotomy.
Imagine you're floating in a calm sea, wearing a life jacket that keeps you bobbing happily up and down in the water. Beside you are two things: a working scale model of an oil tanker weighing one kilogram, and an actual oil taker weighing thousands of tonnes.
You reach out and try to move both of them (i.e. apply force to accelerate them). The little model can be moved easily, but even if you could manage a firm handhold on the full sized tanker, you would have no hope of budging it.
This isn't a perfect analogy - floating in the sea you also have to contend with friction and turbulence from the water - but it gives you a general idea. You could swap that scenario for you and an elephant wearing ice skates on a perfectly smooth field of ice - give that elephant a shove, and who do you think is going to go flying, it or you?
Mass is a function of what kind of material any object is made of and in what quantities. Weird relativity effects aside, mass is a constant. You can only change it by changing the object - chipping pieces off it or sticking them on.
Weight is a measurement of how gravity affects mass. 1kg of mass affected by normal earth gravity has a weight of 1kg. From memory, the Moon has a gravity one sixth that of earth, so that same 1kg mass would only weigh 165g or so in lunar gravity, even though its mass doesn't change.
When you're floating in orbit (actually, you're constantly falling, but falling in a perpetual circle) your weight appears to be zero, because there is no apparent pull of gravity to give you weight. You still have that same mass, though.
Sorry, I've gone on too long.
Beautiful pictures, bu the way. Big Picture is always worth looking at, wether it's space, politics, lanscapes, sporting events, or anything else.
These magnificent photographs, give humankind a smattering of the magnificent accomplishments we have achieved. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a time machine to vault forward 100 years to live among what certainly must be other civilizations.
Thank you for this window into our engineering miracles.
B E A UUUUTIFUL!!!!
SUIT-SAT Fawkin' ROX!!!!
An incredible universe and the earth is a very small part of it, kind of like an atom in the human body.
The pictures displayed are mixed as to the dates they were taken so in my ignorance I did not fully know what the space station looks like now -- it would help people like me if a diagram is displayed at the beginning showing its various major components and when they were added
How does the ISS stay in place in space? Does it float or is the speed at which it's traveling in earth's orbit keep it "static"? And how does the shuttle know where to go/point/flow in order to hook up with it? As for the latter question, is it a simple matter of triangulation and working out the math?
ESPECTACULAR...... LASTIMA QUE NO SE GASTE EL DINERO QUE CUESTAN, EN TERMINAR CON LA HAMBRUNA DEL MUNDO.
UNA SOLA DE ESTAS SUPER-MÁQUINAS CUESTA LA MISMA CANTIDAD DE DÓLARES QUE SON NECESARIOS PARA ALIMENTAR AFRICA POR TREINTA AÑOS, O PARA CONVERTIR EN "DESARROLLADOS" A LOS PAICES DEL "TERCER MUNDO".-
Bonjour,
De l'espace, il est souvent nécessaire de prendre du recul, surtout en ces temps de crise... je vous transmets nos meilleurs voeux de Noël.
Passez un bon réveillon et une bonne fête .
Soyeux heureux et que le soleil (là je le vois pas vous?) réchauffe la terre et vos coeurs.
Bisous
Colette et Jean-Marie
I have been around 70 years and find it gets more more interesting everyday. what a great time to be alive !!!!!!!!!
Excelent work... no words to say wonderful pictures.we must be proved to see those pictures.
GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THESE RATHER RARE PHOTOS! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE BRAVE SPACE TRAVELERS WHO MAKE THIS IMPORTANT WORK POSSIBLE!
Kharkiv
Happy birthday ISS. Amazing photos !!!!
I'm in one of these photos! just very very small, somewhere in Wellington NZ.
great!
OMG amazing
so, we are waiting the results... what happen at there... what are they explored up there... after 10 years, is there any good development ? i wanna see... :)
nice pictures but they're more ecciting
ohhh i like the pic. its just a like merecal.
las fotos de la ISS son preciosas
AS READ PSALM 138
o lord you probe me and yoi know me as w where can i go to flee from thee if I SOAR into the heavens you are present there
cool
great website for students and pics
i love everything in there
we'v just seen you in south africa at 19:09pm you guys looked like a little star moving and i sust want to say it's amazing to see such amazing stuff i love everything in there,amber
nice
SURPRIS EXELLENT EMERVEILLE
As always fantastic photos.I check the globe everyday for photos and I'm never disapointed. Keep them coming.
FANTASTIC YOU GUYS i Loooooved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! those guys were sooooooo HOT
they are SEXXXXXYYYYYY
es hermosa la tierra vista desde las alturas.
how can i be
in space
COOL COOL COOL AND EDUCATIONAL THANK YOU
i love the pickers and it helped me with my homwork i am 11 and because of you i have got a star SO THANK YOU
Thanks! we were looking for some big pictures of the iss for a project in our university..I think these photos are exellent! We are expecting more photos like these.
8 wonder in the world . heartly congrats to space team.
Excellent! Thank you for living the dream that many, many, many of us young men have looked to the heavens and thought "one day, I will be up there". Thank you for bringing us one step closer with these fantastic quality photos. Long live NASA and the global space cooperation.
Absolutely mind bogling !
Nicky
I Want to Go......there.....
Photografics are beautiful. Thank you, thank you.
I want to go there, too.
Good Luck
From The White Knight from Nazereth to the ISS THanks For all the great ? Team Work for us I l Love the pics and hope there will be further work on the ISS. Keep The FAITH And MY Regards To All THe CREWS WHOM ARE THE BEST.
The Pics Are FANTASTIC
i like your pictrue beacuse they are a good mte
Thank you for the resources. Keep up the good work!.
I am from Burma and too poorly know English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: "Be causing your headaches, stomach problems, depression, asthma, to order our book."
Thanks for the help :-), Kester.
An excellent ISS pictures. In the future, can these brilliant Scientists/Engineers develop some type of magnetic tools to catch flying away objects, for example, lost TOOLBAGS floating around in the space? Or, for that matter, to develop some tools to catch an Astronauts accidentally became loose, you never know! Just for the thought. I am an individual who is nuts about NASA activities.
Very beautiful, thank you God !!!! Thank you everyone!!!!!! I travel with yours!!!!!!!!
Wouldn't it be splendid if we could be treated to photos like this without a couple of doofs bringing up god? Rest assured, no god gave us any of the technology that enabled us to get this far; all of this progress is to be attributed exclusively to mankind, and I think we deserve that much credit. Stop selling yourselves short.
How a space shuttle can land on the moving ISS?? I guess they both go at the same speed before docking??? But how they dock together??
This website helped me get 1st place on a project!
THE WAY THESE ASTRONAUTS ARE TRYING AND RISKING THEMSELVES IS WONDERFUL AND THAT WILL MAKE THE WAY FOR ALL OF US AND FOR ALL NEW COMING BABIES IN THE WORLD TO SEE FURTHER DEVELOPEMENT IN SPACE AND ONE DAY THEY WILL TRAVEL FROM ONE PLANET TO ANOTHER PLANET EASILY AS WE ARE NOW TRAVELLING BY PLANE.
HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE, BUT NEW BABAIES WILL SEE THEM.
WISHING ALL ASTRONAUTS OUR BEST REGARDS AND SUCCESS.
KO OHN MAUNG,
YANGON, MYANMAR
Lovely and amazing pics..............thanks
Why do we go to space? Because we are EXPLORERS. We always have been. These brave men and women and the agencies and governments involved are sculpting the future of the human race.
When we stop exploring, we die.
If the ISS with Endeavor docked is traveling at 17,500 miles/hour, how does an astronaut walk in space? Another question, is there complete silence in space?
So that space station that floats around out in space whoa every time you guys go out there it grows. And I also didn't know you could grow things out in space like plants and stuff.
A Hot Digital Website more than other.
This is the coolest thing I have ever seen
I would like to see photos of the entire ISS. I also would like to know the projects that are currently being worked on. I realize some are of a secret nature but if you could list a simi-detailed explinatation of the others would be great.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! amazing i love it
i cant imagine how there can be a station in the space......where is its foundation.......extremely fascinating! .Its amazing the amount of knowledge that God has given to mankind.