SPACE — On November 20, 1998, the first part of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched into orbit. The starter section, called the Zarya module, is the size of a tour bus and weighs 42,000 pounds.
Zarya was launched on a Russian Proton rocket. Two weeks later, the STS-88 space shuttle mission carried the Unity module into space.
STS-88 astronauts connected the two modules in orbit. Zarya was built by Russia, but financed by the United States. NASA contracted a Russian company to build it, at half the price of the American company, Lockheed Martin.
Today, the International Space Station has grown to be the size of a football field. Typically, the ISS accommodates up to six crew members. If part of the crew returns to Earth, another crew will replace them.
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Zarya is now used for storage and external fuel tanks. The module also has docking ports for Russian Progress cargo ships and Soyuz spacecraft that carry crews to and from the space station. Source: Space.com
2023-11-20 16:03:00
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