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For two minutes, NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao saw nothing more than the blue marble earth swirling over his head. "Surreal" is how he described the moment. Chiao was in the middle of a long spacewalk to assemble part of the International Space Station, a laboratory in orbit never seen before.
Today (November 20) marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first component of the station, made possible by the contribution of hundreds of engineers, space shuttle astronauts such as Chiao, international support and crews that continue to launch until today. He has been continuously employed since November 2, 2000.
In reflecting on what the space station has brought to humanity – diplomacy, progress in manned spaceflight and discoveries in the field of life sciences – we must also ask ourselves what the future of the laboratory space reserves us. [Astronauts Snap Amazing Last Glances of Space Station For 20th Anniversary (Gallery)]
The International Space Station (ISS) has pushed NASA to "a whole new way of thinking," Gary Oleson, a station engineer, told Space.com. Oleson was a member of the NASA Space Station Program Office from 1988 to 1993; first in charge of the costs of systems engineering, then as a main link with system engineers, he focused on the logistics and maintenance of the project.
"We normally think that a spaceship is a spaceship," Oleson said. "But it turned out that the International Space Station, during the assembly, was not, from a technical point of view, a spacecraft.This was both a 19 different spacecraft, because every time you were going up and adding a new element, you had another spacecraft, it had a different mass, it had a different reliability. "
This is one of the reasons why the team was pleased to see that the construction of the space station went smoothly. "We were a bit surprised that we did not have any more significant technical problems during the assembly phase," Chiao told Space.com. "The parts are actually all assembled – parts that have been built in other countries and that use different electrical systems … and many of these parts have not even been checked."
Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Commander of Expedition 10 and Scientific Officer of NASA ISS, participates in the first of two Extravehicular Activities (EVA) conducted by the Expedition 10 crew during of his six-month mission from October 2004 to April 2005.
Credit: NASA
The ISS includes contributions from 15 countries. The main partners of the space laboratory include NASA, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos and the European Space Agency; The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency are also partners. Since the opening of the space station, ISS has welcomed 232 people from 18 countries.
The space laboratory flies at an average altitude of 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. It goes around the planet every 90 minutes at a speed of about 28,000 km / h. To put this in perspective, the distance traveled daily by the ISS is about the distance it would take to go from Earth to the Moon and vice versa.
Current plans provide that the space station's operations will continue until 2024. The Trump administration has proposed to no longer support the space station directly after 2025.
The International Space Station, photographed by crew members aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2010.
Credit: NASA
"[NASA] John Logsdon, emeritus professor at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, aims to become an important customer for the station's operations manager, but wants to play the role of principal payer for the operation of the station. Space.com. "I think the crucial question is how long will the government pay for the operation of the station and if there is a kind of private operator to intervene and take over the station. [The International Space Station: Inside and Out (Infographic)]
Chiao said that he was disappointed with the plan to shut down the space station after 2024 or 2025. "All this idea of marketing it … the space station has never been designed nor to be profitable, "he said. "Just to pay for this infrastructure, it's unreasonable.And launching costs.How are you going to cover the launch costs for research and astronauts to and from the space station in the trade?" It makes no sense, if we continue to lower this path, the space station will end. "
(Technologically, of course, the space station has to end one day – and at the beginning of the project, it was designed to last only 15 years, but current assessments suggest that most of the current situation should be perfectly safe until 39, in 2028, or even beyond.)
The argument for an early end to the station's career in the public service is that to save on the costs of the space station, one must further fund human space exploration, such as a return to the moon and an extension of Mars.
"I think the lunar base makes sense for many reasons," Chiao said. "You want to be able to go there, restore your environment and make sure it will work before sending it to Mars." But, he added, "saving money in one area does not mean that funds will be available for the program you want … it's not necessarily true."
While the future of the space station remains uncertain, the perspective it offers anyone viewing images taken from its cup is truly impressive.
"The fact that we have a vehicle in space – the ISS – and the fact that we are launching it regularly is a source of inspiration for young people," added Chiao. Stories like its two breath-taking minutes watching the continents and clouds moving on the blue planet are certainly enough to hypnotize anyone.
Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter@salazar_elin. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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