International Partners Familiarization Overview

International Partners Familiarization Overview

Since the beginning of the concept of a space station, countries around the world have come together to share in the creation of a truly international joint venture. Without the expertise and resources of many nations, the International Space Station would never achieve the magnitude of importance that it has today. The International Space Station not only leads the way in space exploration and micro-gravity scientific research, but just as importantly it leads the way in building better relationships between nations. The International Space Station is an exemplary example of how countries can work together for a common cause. It is hoped that the ISS provides the foundation of cooperation and good relations between all nations of this world. The following sections will explore what each international partner contributes to the ISS. For a link to the websites for each of the international partners go to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/partners.html

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) or l’Agence Spatial Canadienne (ASC) in French has been in existence since March 1989. Its headquarters is the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Saint-Hubert, Quebec. However, The CSA has offices in Houston, Texas, Washington, D.C., Cape Canaveral, Florida, Ottawa, Ontario, and Paris, France. The CSA headquarters was named after John Chapman (1921-1979), who is considered to be the father of the Canadian Space Program.

The main technological contributions of CSA are in the field of robotics. The CSA builds and trains ISS crew members on the use of the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS) and the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) also known as the Canadarm1 and Canadarm2 respectively. The Camadarm1 is a robotic arm that is able to lift heavy payloads, deploy and retrieve satellites, act as an extension ladder for crew during extravehicular activities, and when equipped with a television camera can inspect the exterior of spacecraft.

The Canadarm2 is also a robotic system which is used extensively in the assembly and maintenance of the ISS. This amazing system moves along rails on the truss of the ISS allowing the robotic arm to have extended reach to remote sections of the ISS.

Exhibit 1. Steve Robinson on Canadarm2

Source:

For a virtual tour of Canadian Space Agency (CSA) visit the following website and then answer the question below.

Can you identify 3 areas that the CSA are doing research on other than robotics? (The CSA is doing research on lasers for guidance of satellites, antennas and communication systems, and micro- electronic components used for integrated circuits that have the potential to make high speed data transfer useful for telemedicine and distance learning.)

National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA)

NASA was created in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It is a civilian agency that was tasked with the takeover of the various space research facilities and organizations already in existence in the United States. Presently, there are nine facilities throughout the U.S. Each facility has its own purpose in space exploration and scientific research. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas houses the Mission Control Center, where astronauts and flight controllers are trained, communications with the ISS are maintained, spacecraft are designed, and scientific research is pursued. NASA’s Mission Control Center is the leading control center for the ISS. America has remained the leader in the investments in the ISS and to space exploration as an important goal for humankind. For a virtual tour of Johnson Space Center (JSC) visit the following site:

http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/jsc/center/tours/Tour.html

The United States leads the way in the construction of the International Space Station. NASA employees and contractors have built and financed the following ISS structures:

• truss structures that provide the ISS framework
• four pairs of large solar arrays
• three nodes with ports for spacecraft and for passage to other ISS elements
• airlock that accommodates American and Russian spacesuits
• the American laboratory (Destiny)
• habitation and centrifuge accommodation modules
• power, communications and data services
• thermal control, environmental control and life support health systems

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was founded in 2003 when three Japanese space agencies merged. Now JAXA is responsible for the space exploration and research that those previously agencies preformed. JAXA’s headquarters are at the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) in Tsukuba Science City, which was opened in 1972. At TKSC, the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) also called Kibo was developed and tested. The JEM is a pressurized laboratory that also has an external facility for payloads that can be reached by the Canadian built robotic arm. The JEM was installed on the ISS on July 15, 2009 ISS Assembly Mission 2J/A.

Since the 1990’s, the Japanese Space Agencies have been working on the design and fabrication of an unmanned transfer vehicle that can dock with the ISS and bring supplies. On September 10, 2009, the first Japanese transfer vehicle (HTV-1) was launched on a JAXA and Mitsubishi built rocket called H-IIB. The Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is designed to carry eight International Standard Payload Racks (ISPR). The HTV will be the only vehicle that can carry the ISPRs to the ISS after Shuttle is retired in 2011. The HTV docks to the ISS by the use of the Canadarm 2, which will attach the HTV to a port on the ISS.

The following website is a nine minute video of the opening of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the ISS on June 4, 2008.

European Space Agency (ESA)

The European Space Agency (ESA) was born in 1973 out of two predecessor organizations the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) and European Launcher Development Organization (ELDO). ESA presently has eighteen nations that work together on scientific space research. The eighteen nations are United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Czech Republic, and Austria.

Because of the multinational aspect of ESA it has facilities in many countries, which are listed below.

• ESA Mission Control is in Darmstadt, Germany
• European Astronaut Centre is in Cologne, Germany,
• European Space Research and Technology Centre is in Noordwijk, Netherlands
• Earth Observation Missions are in Frascati, Italy
• European Space Astronomy Centre is in Villanueva de la Canada, Spain

The Columbus Orbital Facility, on the ISS, was launched on December 2007. This facility can house ten payload racks in its pressurized module. The module also has external payload facilities. This facility along with Ariane V rockets that launch unmanned scientific and commercial payloads are important contributions of the ESA to space exploration. In December 2009, Node 3 and Cupola (the pressurized observation facility) where launched to the ISS. Node 3 and Cupola were built by the Italian Space Agency, a member of ESA. For a two minute and 40 second video about the ESA and ISS go to

Russian Federal Space Agency

The Russian Federal Space Agency was founded in February 1992 by a decree of President Yeltsin. The Russian Federal Space Agency is commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as RKA (РКА) or FKA (ФКА). The Russian spelling of the Agency is Федеральное космическое агентство России Federal'noye kosmicheskoye agentstvo Rossii. The Russian Federal Space Agency’s headquarters are located in Moscow. Mission Control is located in Korolev a city close to Moscow. There is a Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia. Most launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan or the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Russia.

The Russians have a long history of space exploration starting with the launch of Sputnik in 1957. The Russians were the first to put a man in space, by sending Yuri Gargarin in 1961. The Russian MIR was the first orbiting space station when it launched in 1986. The lessons learned from MIR were applied to the construction of the ISS. The Russian Federal Space Agency built and launched the Functional Cargo Block, which was the first module of the ISS. It launched in November 1998. The Russia built and launched the Service Module of the ISS, which was a milestone, because it provided facilities for crews to live onboard the ISS. Since November 2000 humans have continuously lived onboard the ISS. The first crew was two Russian Cosmonauts and one American Astronaut. They were Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, along with American Astronaut Bill Shepherd. The crew spent 141 days in space. The Russian transport vehicles Progress and Soyuz have brought both supplies and passengers to the ISS respectively.

The following website has a three minute and forty-two second video all in Russian, but it is really worth watching even if we only understand the six words spoken in English.

Can anyone help in the translation?

Brazil