S0 will anchor the entire truss, attaching directly to the top of the
U.S. Destiny laboratory module. Power lines from the outboard
solar arrays will feed through S0 into the station, as will ammonia
coolant lines leading to and from the outboard radiators that will
keep the station's electrical systems from overheating.
S0 is equipped with four computers, two laser ring gyros and GPS
antennas for on-board navigation, 664 feet of ammonia coolant
lines, 10 miles of electrical cabling, 971 electrical connectors and
complex power control and conditioning equipment.
The 44-foot-long S0 truss also is equipped with a TRW-built rail car
that will roll along tracks running the length of
the completed truss, carrying the station's Canadarm 2 robotic
crane to various work sites as required to install new equipment or
to help spacewalking astronauts make repairs. "Once we add the mobile
berthing system to the mobile
transporter on the next flight (in early June), it will allow the robotic
arm to travel the length of the truss," said space station flight
director Robert Castle. "So we can actually grapple things, roll
along the length of the truss and install things at the end of it."
In fact, the solar array wings - all two acres of them - and other
critical outboard power and cooling systems cannot be installed
without using the Canadarm2 on its mobile platform. And the first
step on the road to completing the station's initial assembly is
installation of the S0 truss.
Space shuttle Endeavour (STS-108) successfully flew December 5-17 to ferry
a new resident crew and supplies to the ISS. The mission
delivered the Expedition Four crew of
commander Yuri Onufrienko and flight engineers Carl Walz and
Dan Bursch to the orbiting space station for a five-month stay and
return to Earth the Expedition Three crew of Frank Culbertson,
pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin who
have been aloft since August.
This sixth and final shuttle mission of 2001 caps a record-breaking
year of missions that completed the first phase of the station's
orbital construction.
While NASA faces a shuttle flight reduction in 2003 and other
measures to bring space station costs in line with budget
projections, 2002 promises to be just as ambitious as the last.
In 2001, NASA and the Russian Space Agency put up
about 45 tons of new equipment and modules, bringing the total mass
to around 184 tons. That figure could double in 2002 as NASA begins to
add more truss segments to the station.
Since the continuous human presence stage began in November of 2000, there
has been a total of 16 visiting vehicles to the ISS. That's eight
shuttle flights, five Russian Progress flights, two Soyuzes and the
docking compartment. In that same time there were 18
spacewalks to assemble and maintain the station. (In 2002 there are a
projected 20 spacewalks.) Over the past year there were about 50,000 hours
of experiment operating time, which includes both the crew-tended
experiments as well as the remote telescience operations.
The International Space Station is the most ambitious engineering project
in world history. The program involves 16 partner countries, including the
U.S., Russia, Japan, the 11 members of the European Space Agency, and Brazil,
who have joined together to build the most capable space laboratory ever constructed.
When complete in 2006, the International Space Station will be about the size
of a three-bedroom house and will be home to up to seven astronauts at a time,
who will work on experiments running the gamut of scientific disciplines.
Access to mission commentary will be through the human space flight website
at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov
Welcome to the International Space Station Update and Visibility page
Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-110) successfully launched on April 8
to install the anchor section of what will become a huge
cross truss that ultimately will support the station's four sets of
solar arrays. The truss, called "S0" (pronounced S-zero) is the first of nine truss
elements that will be bolted together over the next two years to form
the structural backbone of the station. Four huge sets of solar arrays
eventually will be attached to the
truss, two at each end, providing the power needed to operate the
completed station's research gear and life support systems.
ISS Visibility Information
See the ISS in the Skies Over Your Home Town!
The International Space Station is already large enough to show up as a
moving dot as bright as Jupiter in the nighttime sky. To see tables
showing the times and positions of ISS flyovers at your location, click on
the "Heavens-Above" website listed below. The site easily allows you to
plug in your own location (either by city or entering latitude and
longitude). You can then get a display of the ISS' visibility for the next
10 days, as well as sky charts showing where to find it relative to the
stars. Go to:
http://www.heavens-above.com/main.asp
When you first access the site, set up your geographical location, bookmark
it, and it will keep that information for future logins.
Contact Information
Mail: | Angela Des Jardins | E-mail: | E-mail Angela |
Montana Space Grant Consortium | Phone: | (406) 994-6172 | |
4176 Cobleigh Hall, Montana State University | FAX: | (406) 994-4452 | |
Bozeman, MT 59717 |
Updated December 9, 2002