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Since living memory, the people dreamt to investigate the stars. Some researchers of the antiquity and the middle Age had made the basis for our knowledge today. We did not have already all things investigate, but the development gets faster in our days. The newest project to investigate the universe and the behaviour of the people in the weightlessness is the Project ISS. It is a project to build a space station. This project runs under the patronage of the American space authority NASA.
(1.) NASA (A) Why a space authority? In March 1958 the officer of the scientific advisory council of the president Eisenhower, John R. Killian, formulated 4 arguments for such a space-travel program of the USA. 1. Investigating the earth and her cosmic surroundings. 2.
The country defence 3. National prestige. 4. New possibilities for scientific research. (B) The foundation These reasons were clear and understandable but which available authority should take on these services. The NACA (National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics) was independent of government and armed forces, but those interests should also be taken into.
The democratic senator from Texas Johnson declared himself in favour of a centrally controlled space-travel program. Johnson presented a bill for this authority, in which only the name of authority were changed to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). With this one change, the Air Force is apparently replaced, but had hardly an influence on the authority. The president Eisenhower signed the Space Act on July 29th, 1958. AS the first executive director were T. Kleith Glennan appointed.
He worked there for 3 years. All buildings of the NACA 8000 employs and 300 million dollars of annual budget changed to the NASA. The authority NACA was dissolved. (2.) Earlier projects for space stations Shortly after the NASA was founded, the experts already had a vision for a space station in the orbit. But at this time the Apollo-Project was more important for the US-government.
After the Apollo-Project was stopped in 1972, the Americans brought Skylab as their first space station into the orbit. This space station had consisted of a modified Apollo capsule and the third layer of a Saturn-V-carrier rocket. Skylab was 15 m of long, 6.6 m in diameter and 99 t heavy. Up to the year, 1979 there were 3 missions to this space station. She was used to the science, the astronomy and the grounding observation mainly for researches.
Skylab was plunged over the Pacific Ocean by the NASA on July 11th, 1979. The US president then, Ronald Reagan, decided to build an American space station in 1984. In this project, other nations should also be included. The project got the name \"Freedom\". If the partners Japan, Europe and Canada had not invested 1.6 billion dollars in this time, the project would have been stopped.
However, the newly elected US president Bill Clinton made a clever gambit 1993. He invited the Russian government into the project. The Russians should drive the development forward and made the project cheaper for the USA. Since the Russians had agreed to the project, it got the name: Project ISS - International Space Station. (3.) ISS (A) Facts Span width: 108 m Length: 88 m Height: 41 m Mass: approx.
500 t Orbit: 350-450 km Period: 90 min Living- & workroom: 1240 m ³ (approx. 400 m² laboratory area) Assembly flights: USA: 33 Russia: 12 Assembly duration: 5-6 years (1998-2003/2004) Operation duration: 10 years Crew: 3 astronauts (after completion: 7 astronauts) Control centre: Houston Constituents: Various laboratories Union knot Union adapter Solar cells panels External platforms Service modules --> altogether: 46 components (B) Costs and the forward roll of the NASA The costs for the planning and the construction of this space station are enormous. Up to the completion in January 2004, the space station will have swallowed 60 billion dollars. The NASA is involved in these costs with 70% about 42 billion dollars. Approx. 40 billions dollars add for the running costs within the following 10 years, which alone are carried by the NASA.
The NASA is the main financial backer and client of the space station. The American government will check the complete space station and decides on every flight to the station and about every research order of the partners or of the companies. (C) For what this space station? (1.) Research (material & life science, biology etc.) (2.) Political interest of the USA (3.
) Interests of the American economy The research is done by partner countries of this space station mainly. They pass their orders of the economy & science to the Americans. For the Americans the space station is only a symbol of their political and social power. It's an demonstration of power and influence. They want to show, that only the American can bring the first person to the Mars. The interest of the economy is based on the strong input of the government in the space-travel.
The economy profits from the orders. The profit of the companies has increased very strongly within the last few 4 years. In addition, the number of the workplaces increases. Despite large interest of the science, the station will bring only within the next 10-20 years innovations for the complete mankind. We have the first claim to profit from these innovations, because we are the people, paying for this space station with our taxes. However, the small citizen is always the stupid one.
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