International Space Station looking at another two decades Image Credit/NASA
Tuesday will mark an historic milestone, as the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada celebrate the 10th anniversary of a continuous human presence aboard the NASA-led International Space Station.
Does a decade with at least two humans and more recently a half-dozen men and women always living and working aboard mean the orbital outpost has turned a corner?
Will the station become that symbolic foot hold that launches an international human migration into deep space?
Those are large questions.
But some of those involved in the program’s earliest days at NASA tackled them this week in a series of forums sponsored by NASA’s Washington headquarters as well by the Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center. If nothing else, the orbiting lab’s longevity has given those questions more credibility than they had when NASA’s Bill Shepherd and Russia’s Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko floated aboard as the first tenants on Nov. 2, 2000.
Challenges ahead
“Our challenge in the next couple of years is to see how we can effectively use the station,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations and a former station program manager. “Can we put modules on the ISS to go places? Can we use it as more of a test bed?” We need to keep reaching out.”
Two years ago, Congress established NASA’s internal and external research facilities on the station as a National Laboratory, opening their use to other federal agencies, the private sector and university scientists. The National Institutes of Heath and the Department of Agriculture are among the agencies taking part in the new arrangement.
Space Station's Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will study dark matter, anti-matter. Image credit/NASA
President Obama has tasked NASA with fostering new commercial space transportation companies that can carry astronauts as well as supplies to and from the station. They could make access to the station for medical, biology and physics research more routine.
Part of a new industrial revolution
“This signifies the end of the dawn of the next industrial revolution,” said Mark Uhran, NASA’s assistant associate administrator for space station. “This is a classic disruptive technology. It changes biology, chemistry and physics — if we have the wisdom to use it right.”
His predictions were some of the most optimistic from the forums.
“It almost slipped between our fingers,” said Uhran, as he and others recalled a Congressional vote in 1993 in which the station’s over budget development was saved by a single vote. “I think we are destined to succeed with it ultimately.”
There are new hurdles, some just as daunting as the old ones.
The shuttle is nearing retirement after three decades of operations. Two, possibly three missions remain as the station’s assembly comes to a close.
Will NASA’s commercial transportation strategy unfold quickly enough to take up the slack? Will European and Japanese supply craft follow up on their promising first missions? Russia’s Progress supply craft seems like a solid bet for deliveries, but it takes seven of the capsules to supply as much as one space shuttle.
Past Obstacles, Future promise
A look to the past suggests the U. S.-led partnership is up to the task. The U. S. and Russia succeeded in overcoming their long adversarial Cold War relationship to provide the station’s foundation. Russia and the other partners rushed to support the station in the aftermath of the 2003 shuttle Columbia tragedy.
In August, NASA responded in kind to stave off a threat to the station’s future when half of the lab’s external cooling system shutdown, severely restricting the distribution of solar power. With three rapid fire spacewalks, NASA astronauts replaced the faulty equipment.
Mike Suffredini, NASA’s station program manager, believes the orbital outpost can function reliably through at least 2028, or eight years longer than Congress recently specified in legislation signed by the president.
“It’s an amazing spacecraft,” said Suffredini. “The feat we have accomplished as a team with our international partners is nothing short of the most difficult thing ever attempted by humankind.”
During his tenure, the station has graduated from three to six full time crew members with the addition of life support systems that recycle air and water. The advances have set the stage for future use.
“In that timeframe, we have to figure out how to address all the challenges of human long duration space flight,” said Suffredini. “The transit to Mars has many challenges. Many of them we can test for and mitigate on the ISS. My hope is we get the experience and information we need to be successful when we leave Low Earth Orbit.”
Bill Shepherd Photo Credit/NASA
As the station’s first commander, Shepherd recalls the challenges of training for more than five years for a mission that successfully prepared the station for the 25 crews that have followed.
“The real strength of the program is that we have shown humans can do significant things and that we are flexible at the same time,” said Shepherd. “In the short term, we have a fantastic orbital lab. That is its fundamental value to this nation and the partnership. Beyond that, the station provides a foundation for how and where we might go further in space. The legacy will be that we got our act together and figured out how to do this.”