The largest structure ever put into orbit, the International Space Station (ISS), now 25 years old, is a model of international cooperation, especially between the Russians and the Americans.

AFP gives us five things to know about this football-field-sized space lab where Russia plans to send a new spacecraft to replace the one damaged by a micrometeorite impact.

What is ISS?

Suspended 400 kilometers from Earth, this space laboratory is used to study the Earth and the solar system, conduct experiments in zero gravity, especially in medicine, and to prepare space exploration missions.

The station, launched in 1998 aboard a Russian rocket, was built module by module at a cost of about $100 billion, much of which was borne by the United States.

Since November 2, 2000, one American and two Russians have been working on the ISS. Crews change every four to six months.

What organizations manage the International Space Station?

Five space agencies from 15 countries participate in this international partnership: Russia (Roscosmos), Japan (Jaxa), USA (NASA), Europe (ESA) and Canada (CSA).

The station is 10 meters long and 74 meters wide and weighs 400 tons. Eight spaceships can dock there at once.

There is always at least one international group of seven astronauts on board. Residents live in six modules.

Logistics

Delivery is carried out by Russian (Progress) and American (SpaceX and Cygnus) cargo ships.

In emergency cases, repatriation is provided by the Russian ship “Soyuz” (3 places) or the American ship Crew Dragon (4 places). Ships carrying astronauts remain docked for the duration of their mission.

Russia will send an unmanned Soyuz capsule on February 20 to deliver two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut aboard the International Space Station to Earth. The three were supposed to return to Earth in March in the capsule that took them there, but the capsule was damaged after a leak in December.

Serhii Prokopiev, Dmytro Petelin and Frank Rubio arrived aboard the ISS on September 21, 2022 with the help of the MS-22 capsule and were supposed to return to Earth with it in March 2023.

In addition to the three, there are four more astronauts on board the station: Nicole Mann and Josh Kassada (USA), Koichi Wakata (Japan) and Anna Kikina (Russia).

Life in weightlessness

Cosmonauts’ days are carefully organized: they wake up at 6:00 a.m. and turn off at 10:30 p.m. Meanwhile, there are eight to ten hours of scientific experiments, two hours of mandatory physical activity – to avoid muscle exhaustion – and three hours of free time. Saturday, cleaning and maintenance. Sunday, rest.

About 200 scientific experiments are being conducted at any given time, including all zero-gravity experiments that cannot be performed on Earth.

To sleep, astronauts wear sleeping bags that are stored vertically.

There is very little water on board: in addition to the water brought from the Earth, the rest is obtained from the air and urine. The water is purified and used for freeze-dried products.

An uncertain future

Both NASA and ESA want to continue the adventure until 2030, but the Russians announced in July that they would leave “after 2024.” Nothing official yet.

The situation in Ukraine is no stranger to this statement, although Moscow has already hinted that it is abandoning the construction of its own orbital station.

If Russia leaves, the Americans will have to assume sole responsibility for refueling and maintaining the station, which is steadily approaching Earth, in orbit.

After 2030, the ISS will fall into the ocean. It is expected to be replaced by private stations. NASA has already invested in several of these projects, which can be used for scientific and technological research as well as tourism. This time without Russia.

Photo: Dreamstime