United States Orbital Segment
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United States Orbital Segment
The US Orbital Segment (USOS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed and operated by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The segment currently consists of eleven pressurized components and various external elements, all of which were delivered by the Space Shuttle. The segment is monitored and controlled from various mission control centers around the world including Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany and Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Japan. However, it depends on the Russian Orbital Segment for essential flight control, orbital station-keeping and life support systems. Modules The US Orbital Segment consists of 10 pressurized modules. Of these, seven are habitable, and three are connecting nodes with large ports. The ports are ...
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Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development. The first ( STS-1) of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights (STS-5) beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. They launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle-''Mir'' program with Russia, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). ...
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ISS Configuration 2021-11 En
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS programme evolved from the Space Station ''Freedom'', a 1984 American proposal to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station, and the contemporaneous Soviet/Russian '' Mir-2'' proposal from 1976 with similar aims. The ISS is the ninth space station t ...
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Boeing Starliner
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing for its participation in NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The spacecraft consists of a reusable Space capsule, crew capsule and an expendable service module. The capsule has a diameter of , which is slightly larger than the Apollo command and service module#Command module (CM), Apollo command module and SpaceX Dragon 2, and smaller than the Orion (spacecraft), Orion capsule. The Boeing Starliner holds a crew of up to seven people and is designed to be able to remain docked to ISS for up to seven months with reusability of up to ten missions. Starliner launc ...
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SpaceX Dragon 2
Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched Private spaceflight, private missions such as Inspiration4 and Axiom Mission 1. There are two variants: Crew Dragon, a spacecraft capable of ferrying four crew, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original SpaceX Dragon, Dragon 1. The spacecraft consists of a reuseable space capsule and an expendable trunk module. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and the capsule returns to Earth via splashdown. Cargo Dragon space logistics, supplies cargo to the ISS under a Commercial Resupply Services#Commercial Resupply Services phase 2, Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract with NASA. The SpaceX CRS-21, first flight of Dragon 2 in a cargo configuration launched in December 2020. It shares this duty with Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems' Cygnus ...
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NASA Docking System
The NASA Docking System (NDS) is a Docking and berthing of spacecraft, spacecraft docking and berthing mechanism used on the International Space Station (ISS), the Orion spacecraft, and the Boeing Starliner, Starliner. The NDS is NASA's implementation of the International Docking System Standard (IDSS), an international spacecraft docking standard promulgated by the International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board. The international Low Impact Docking System (iLIDS) is the precursor to the NDS. NDS Block 1 was designed and built by The Boeing Company in Houston, TX, to meet the IDSS standards. Design qualification testing took place through January 2017. Using NDS, NASA developed the International Docking Adapter (IDA) to provide two IDSS-compliant docking ports on the ISS. The IDAs were delivered to the ISS starting in 2016. Each of two existing Pressurized Mating Adapters has an IDA permanently attached, so the former PMA function is no longer available for visiting s ...
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APAS-95
The terms Androgynous Peripheral Attach System (APAS), Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System (APAS) and Androgynous Peripheral Docking System (APDS), are used interchangeably to describe a family of spacecraft docking mechanisms, and are also sometimes used as a generic name for any docking system in that family. A system similar to APAS-89/95 is used by the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft. Overview The name of the system is Russian in origin, and is an acronym, , in the Cyrillic alphabet, from the Russian (''Androginno-periferiynyy agregat stykovki''). The English acronym was designed to be just the same letters but in the Latin alphabet, for which the first two words are direct counterparts of those in the original. The third word in Russian comes from the German , meaning "complicated mechanism", and the last means "docking". The last two words in the English name were picked to begin with the same equivalent letters as in the Russian name. The idea behind the design is that unl ...
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Cygnus (spacecraft)
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and now manufactured and launched by Northrop Grumman Space Systems as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. It is launched by Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket or ULA's Atlas V and is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000, ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by the Russian Progress spacecraft, as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry. ''Cygnus'' is the Latinized Greek word for swan and a northern constellation. Development With Rocketplane Kistler unable to meet funding obligations for its K-1 launch vehicle under the terms of the COTS agreeme ...
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Harmony (ISS Module)
''Harmony'', also known as ''Node 2'', is the "utility hub" of the International Space Station. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the crew are housed here. ''Harmony'' was successfully launched into space aboard Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ... flight STS-120 on 23 October 2007. After temporarily being attached to the port side of the Unity (ISS module), ''Unity'' module, it was moved to its permanent location on the forward end of the Destiny (ISS module), ''Destiny'' module on 14 November 2007. ''Harmony'' added to the station's living volume, an increase of almost 20%, from to . Its successful installation meant th ...
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STS-88
STS-88 was the first Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was flown by Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'', and took the first American module, the ''Unity'' node, to the station. The seven-day mission was highlighted by the mating of the U.S.-built ''Unity'' node to the Functional Cargo Block (''Zarya'' module) already in orbit, and three spacewalks to connect power and data transmission cables between the Node and the FGB. ''Zarya'', built by Boeing and the Russian Space Agency, was launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in November 1998. Other payloads on the STS-88 mission included the IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC), the Argentine Scientific Applications Satellite-S (SAC-A), the MightySat 1 Hitchhiker payload, the Space Experiment Module (SEM-07) and Getaway Special G-093 sponsored by the University of Michigan. Crew Launch attempts Mission highlights Node 1, named ''Unity'', was the first space station ...
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Zenith
The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction (plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The zenith is the "highest" point on the celestial sphere. Origin The word "zenith" derives from an inaccurate reading of the Arabic expression (), meaning "direction of the head" or "path above the head", by Medieval Latin scribes in the Middle Ages (during the 14th century), possibly through Old Spanish. It was reduced to "samt" ("direction") and miswritten as "senit"/"cenit", the "m" being misread as "ni". Through the Old French "cenith", "zenith" first appeared in the 17th century. Relevance and use The term ''zenith'' sometimes means the highest point, way, or level reached by a celestial body on its daily apparent path around a given point of observation. This sense of the word is often used to describe the position of the Sun ("The sun reached its zenit ...
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Unity (ISS Module)
upright=1.0, The ''Unity'' module as seen in May 2011 The ''Unity'' connecting module, also known as Node 1, is the first U.S.-built component of the International Space Station (ISS). It connects the Russian and United States segments of the station, and is where crew eat meals together. The module is cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations (forward, aft, port, starboard, zenith, and nadir) facilitating connections to other modules. ''Unity'' measures in diameter, is long, made of steel, and was built for NASA by Boeing in a manufacturing facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. ''Unity'' is the first of the three connecting modules; the other two are '' Harmony'' and ''Tranquility''. Launch and initial berthing ''Unity'' (with its two attached PMAs) was carried into orbit as the primary cargo of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' (OV 105) on STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission dedicated to assembly of the station. On 6 Decemb ...
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