Page 44 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Freedom becomes the ISS
After the loss of Skylab, the continued presence of Russian Mir, and the completed development of the SpAce SHuttle, NASA wanted a new space station bigger and better than its rival. But it was going to be no cheap venture. Rather, it was to be far costlier than even the Apollo program to the Moon. Nevertheless, the go- ahead to begin construction was finally given in 1984, and the project was named Freedom.
As with many such huge and imaginative projects, what was originally hoped for and what came about were different. The initial plan developed by America was too costly even without thought of a spinning wheel design, and it began to run more and more behind schedule. As a result, it was progressively scaled back during the planning phase. America was beginning to realize
that it could not go into space alone.
Another turn of events, the change from the communist Soviet Union to democratic Russia, was also important. Russia simply didn’t have the money to continue with its Mir program, but it had the knowledge and many
pieces of technology.
As a result,
Freedom, formerly an
entirely American project,
was renamed the International
Space Station (ISS) and became a
joint international venture. Later it was to incorporate ideas and hardware from another 14 countries.
From the outset it was realized that its
construction would require many American
and Russian space missions, and assembly in
space would mean many spacewalks. It also had to be constructed and located with international involvement in mind.
 What the International Space Station looked like during its construction.
Science power platform
Zvezda service module
Universal docking module (Pirs)
Soyuz spacecraft
Thermal control panel
Emergency crew-return vehicle
 The main components of the International Space Station, showing who makes what.
44