International Space Station

Every day since November 19th, 1998, the International Space Station or ISS has been orbiting the earth at a speed of 17,100 miles per hour.

Built by a multinational collaborative involving five participating space agencies, the ISS has eight docking ports aboard its network of berthed and interconnected modules, with at least one Soyuz spacecraft docked at all times for use as an escape vehicle in the event of an emergency.

What is the International Space Station?

The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory, in which scientific research is carried out in a number of fields, including astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology and physics.

As of April 9th, 2020, 240 astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 19 different nations have visited the space station, including 151 Americans, 48 Russians, nine Japanese, eight Canadians and five Italians. Known as expeditions, a wide variety of crewed and un-crewed spacecraft have supported the station’s activities.

Missions to the ISS

Flights to the ISS include 37 Space Shuttle missions, 75 Progress resupply dockings, 59 crewed Soyuz spacecraft, 5 ATVs, 9 Japanese HTVs, 20-plus SpaceX Dragon flights and 13 Cygnus missions. The ISS is resupplied eight or nine times a year, or approximately once every 40-45 days.

While crewed docking relies heavily on the hands of human pilots, cargo docking is automated via a number of competing technologies, including Kurs radar, laser optic guidance and GPS.

Docking with the ISS

Crews can supervise these supply docks, but do not have to intervene except to send abort commands in the event of emergencies. Progress and ATV supply craft can remain at the ISS for six months, allowing greater flexibility for the in-boarding supplies and the out-boarding of trash and completed earthbound research experiments.

Prior to a ship’s docking to the ISS, navigation and attitude control is handed over to the ground control of a ship’s country of origin, while the solar panels of the station are turned edge-on to the incoming ships, so that residue from an arriving spacecraft’s thrusters won’t do damage to the cells.

Now that interest continues to build for manned missions to Mars, the ISS may become a vital resupply and fuel link before humans venture forth where no man has gone before. And there you have it, reaching the ISS, today on The Daily Dose.