What is the present situation and prospect of the space station?

The Significance of Building the International Space Station

Due to the limited working space and flight time of manned spacecraft and space shuttle, scientists pursue a spacecraft that can run in near-earth orbit for a long time and can be used by many astronauts to live and undertake a variety of complex tasks, which leads to the birth and development of space station. The space station, also known as the artificial heavenly palace, is characterized by its large volume, long in-orbit operation time and complete functions. It can make use of the special space environment to carry out a series of scientific research, and can complete tasks such as earth monitoring, resource exploration, weather forecast, astronomical observation and the release of artificial celestial bodies. Since the space station does not return to the ground, the shuttle and supplies for astronauts on the space station are borne by spacecraft or space shuttle.

In view of the importance and technical complexity of building a large space station, and considering the huge funds and other factors, on September 22, 1988, the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency1/member countries, as well as Japan, Canada and Brazil 16 countries reached an agreement to build an international space station, which began in the mid-1990s. Since then, the International Space Station has become a great aerospace project.

The International Space Station consists of a basic frame, a 12 module and a number of solar panels, with a total mass of about 4,536 tons, a length of 108 meters, a width of 88 meters and an orbital height of 397 kilometers. It can accommodate 7 astronauts to live and work for a long time, and can accommodate at most 15 people for scientific investigation. The design life is 15. The air pressure in the manned cabin is the same as the earth's surface, and its volume is about 12 17 cubic meters. It will be divided into six laboratories, which can provide unparalleled research space for any spacecraft in the past. It is a large platform for space microgravity experiments and scientific research. This is a new milestone in the development history of international manned space technology.

The construction of the entire international space station was originally planned to be completed in 2004, but later the plan was changed many times, resulting in repeated delays in the completion time. It was changed for the first time in 2005, the second time in 2008 and the third time on 20 10. In this process, its construction funds have been continuously increased on the basis of the original $83 billion, and finally determined to be $654.38+$065.438+$04 billion. According to the original arrangement, in order to put the components into orbit for docking, only the British space shuttle will be launched 34 times, the Russian manned spacecraft will be launched 9 times, and the astronauts will have to go through 1 14 spacewalks before they can be assembled.

Current situation of international space station construction

According to the agreement to build the International Space Station, during the period of 1995- 1998, the American space shuttle and the Russian space station "Peace" made nine space docking and joint flights, and the astronauts of the two countries conducted a series of scientific experiments and many spacewalks, which accumulated experience for assembling the International Space Station.

After completing the above preparations, the on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station began. 1998165438+1On October 20th, the Russian-made "Dawn" multi-functional cargo hold was launched by the Proton K carrier rocket from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan, marking the official start of the construction of the International Space Station. The cabin is cylindrical, with a diameter of 4m, a length of13m and a mass of 24t. Equipped with navigation, communication, attitude control, climate environment adjustment and other equipment. It can provide enough power and electricity at the initial stage of the construction of the International Space Station and become the main cabin of the whole space station. "Dawn" can change its direction in orbit and realize docking with other cabins, and some research equipment can also be stored in its cabin.

On February 6, 65438, the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off the second module of the International Space Station, Unity, and began its first assembly operation. American Unity is an approximate cylinder with a diameter of 4.6m, a length of10m and a mass of13t. It has six docking doors. After Endeavour caught up with Dawn, the astronauts on board seized the latter by using the mechanical arm, and then docked the Unity node module with Dawn through three spacewalks, completing the connection between the air transmission pipeline and the communication system. Six astronauts from the United States and Russia became the first people to enter the International Space Station. After completing the task, they returned to the ground by space shuttle.

On July 12, 2000, the Russian-made "Star" service module was launched and successfully docked with the orbiting "Dawn" and "Unity" complexes on July 26th. This service cabin includes 4 sealed cabins and 1 unsealed cabin, with a length of 13m, a width of 30m and a mass of 20t. It is the main work area and living area of astronauts in the International Space Station, and is equipped with life support system, orbit attitude control system and energy support system. In this way, the docked three modules and auxiliary equipment form a space consortium with a mass of 73 tons, with an operating height of 397 kilometers and an inclination of 565,438 0.6, and circumnavigate the earth once every 90 minutes, which makes the International Space Station have the basic conditions for receiving astronauts to live and work.

On June 365438+1October 3 1, 2000, the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TM3 1 was launched. Two days later, it successfully docked with the International Space Station in space on June 1 65438+1October 2, and1American astronaut William Sheffield and two Russian astronauts Gisenko and Krikalyov entered the space station to work. From then on, up to the beginning of May 2003, 18 astronauts from six international investigation teams were working in the space station. The first five groups took Soyuz TM spacecraft and space shuttle respectively, and the sixth group took Soyuz TMA/KLOC-0 spacecraft. In addition to transporting personnel, Soyuz TM or TMA spacecraft is also a lifesaving spacecraft on the International Space Station. There is always a docking station at ordinary times, which rotates 1 time every five or six months.

On April 28th, 2003, Soyuz TMA2-2 spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station, carrying two astronauts of the seventh international expedition, Malenchenko and Lu Jie. After getting on the bus, the two men successfully handed over their work with three members of the Sixth Investigation Team. Malenchenko and Lu Jie were scheduled to take the space shuttle Atlantis at 438+0 on March 6th, 2003. As the space shuttle Columbia crashed on February 1 of the same year, all the space shuttles were grounded and had to take Soyuz TMA2 instead.

During the landing phase of the space shuttle, all the personnel on the International Space Station were transferred to the Soyuz TMA spacecraft. Due to economic difficulties, in order to alleviate the pressure of drinking water and food supply in the space station, Russia changed the original three astronauts to two, and intermittently carried a space tourist, earning 20 million US dollars each time. This is the reason why the seventh study group is less than the first six study groups, and the reason why the later study groups are all composed of two people. After the shuttle resumed its flight on July 26, 2005, the inspection teams that stopped at the station were all in pairs because they no longer undertook the task of picking up and dropping off inspection teams.

On June 65438+1October 65438+1October 2007, Russia launched the Soyuz TMA2-2 spacecraft and sent two members of the 16 expedition into space. Two days later, the spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station, and Russian astronaut Malenchenko and American female astronaut whitson were able to work in the station. Whitson, a 47-year-old biochemist, became the first female commander of the International Space Station. According to statistics, the International Space Station received a total of 38 astronauts from the 16 expedition, excluding astronauts and space tourists who worked temporarily in the space station.