Member • Apr 2, 2008
How Space Stations Work?
Photo courtesy NASA
View of the Florida peninsula from space
For years, and for various reasons, people (scientists, #-Link-Snipped-#, science fiction writers, the general public) have dreamed of having a permanent space station in orbit around Earth. For some, space stations are a place to do cutting edge scientific research in an environment that can not be matched on Earth. For others, space stations are a place for business, where unique materials #-Link-Snipped-#, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals) can be manufactured in better forms than on Earth. Still others dream of space stations as staging points for expeditions to the planets and stars, as tourist attractions, or even as new cities and colonies that could relieve an overpopulated planet. Whatever the dream, space stations are not that far off. The United States and Russia have had orbiting space stations since 1971 and are now cooperating with other nations to build the #-Link-Snipped-#, a place that will maintain a permanent human presence in space.
Photo courtesy NASA
What will the space station look like? What will it be like to live and work in space? What problems are involved in establishing a space station? What will it be used for? In this article, we will examine the fascinating world of space stations.
A Little History
From the early days of science fiction and #-Link-Snipped-#, we have dreamed of space stations. Visionaries have proposed space stations as outposts in orbit, much like the forts and outposts of the U.S. western frontier of the 18th and 19th centuries. The outposts in space would be places for people to conduct business, do science and travel to the planets and stars. Typically, these stations have been envisioned as large rotating #-Link-Snipped-# that have gravity, like those seen in films such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" or in television shows like "Star Trek Deep Space 9" or "Babylon 5." But the space stations of today bear little resemblance to those of science fiction.