Humanity needs the ISS to conquer deep space, according to the head of Russia's space agency, Dmitry Rogozin. The orbiting station should keep operating indefinitely with crews from all over the world, he added.
Image: Reuters/ESA/Big City Beats
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In the future, the International Space Station (ISS) would be used as an "assembly shop, a repair base, a refueling station for ships heading into deep space," Russia's top space official, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters on Thursday.
"This is not about the year 2024 or 2028, I'm talking about its historical necessity," he said, addressing the media at the Baikonur cosmodrome.
"It is possible it would be reconfigured, design features of modules will change, the participants will change, but it is a stepping stone that the humanity must use in order to move further," Rogozin said.
First Arab in space
Rogozin's made his remarks a day after Hazzaa Al-Mansoori, a United Arab Emirates national, became the first Arab in space by blasting off from the Russia-controlled spaceport in Kazakhstan.
Hazzaa Al-Mansoori became the first Arab in space in September 2019Image: Reuters/S. Zhumatov
Together with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, Al-Mansoori later docked with the ISS to join the existing six-member crew, which currently boasts three Americans, two Russians, and one Italian.
Over 230 spacefarers from 18 countries have so far visited the station, which started operations in late 1998. On Thursday, however, Rogozin called for even more countries to be included.
He said, "In the future, the list of countries would more or less match the UN assembly, and this is normal."
The ISS serves as an orbiting laboratory and has so far hosted over 2,500 research projects. Rogozin said experiments will soon also be conducted outside of the station, instead of just inside the modules.
dj/sms (dpa, Interfax)
Happy birthday, ISS! The International Space Station at 20
On November 20, 1998, the first module for the International Space Station was launched into orbit. Three years later, the first crew took up residence there. Since then, the ISS has been a hub for scientific research.
Image: Reuters/NASA
A 19,000 kilo building block
The first module of the International Space Station was sent into orbit 20 years ago. It was the Russian-made Zarya, a "Functional Cargo Block" — also known as FGB. Zarya came in at 19,000 kilograms (41,000 pounds) and was 12 meters (39 feet) long. It was commissioned and paid for by America and built by a Russian space company. It was the start of two decades of international cooperation.
Image: NASA
Larger than a six-bedroom house
The International Space Station is home to an international crew of six people, who also work there. It travels at a speed of five miles per second (8kps), orbiting Earth every 90 minutes. Eight solar arrays provide power to the station and make it the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon. You don't need a telescope to see it.
Image: Reuters/NASA
Expedition 1
This was the ISS's first long-term crew: American astronaut William Shepherd (center) and his two Russian fellow workers, cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko (left) and Sergei Krikalev (right). They moved into the ISS on November 2, 2000, and stayed for 136 days.
Image: NASA
Up to one year
On average, space station crews, also known as expeditions, stay in space for about five and a half months. Some crew members, however, have broken that record — for example, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (photo) and Roscosmos cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko. They lived and worked in space for a whole year.
Image: Scott Kelly/NASA
Multinational
This is Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield strumming his guitar on the ISS at Christmas 2012. Since 2000, crew members and Space Flight Participants (self-financed space tourists) have come from 18 different countries. The most have come from the USA and Russia. Other teams have included people from Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, Brazil and South Africa.
Image: Reuters/NASA
Shuttle bus
Crew members and supplies arrive at the ISS via transfer vehicles and space freighters. This photo shows space shuttle Atlantis, which operated until 2011, docking onto the space station. These days, astronauts arrive at the ISS in a Soyuz capsule.
Image: Getty Images/NASA
Out for a walk
There have been more than 210 spacewalks — "EVA" in astronaut terms — at the ISS since 2000. This photo shows astronaut Mike Hopkins on a spacewalk on December 24, 2013.
Image: Reuters/NASA
Extraordinary exterior
The ISS has several robotic arms. This one, Canadarm2, is 57.7 feet (17.58 meters) long when fully extended, and has seven motorized joints. It can lift 220,000 pounds (100 tons), which is the weight of a space shuttle orbiter. This photo shows astronaut Stephen K. Robinson anchored to Canadarm2's foot restraint.
Image: Reuters/NASA
Blue Dot mission
Crew members spend about 35 hours per week conducting research. On his first mission, dubbed "Blue Dot," German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst observed and analyzed changes to the human body that occur in microgravity. Gerst's second mission at the ISS started in June 2018. In October 2018, he became the first German astronaut to command the ISS.
Image: Getty Images/ESA/A. Gerst
Back home
When their time at the ISS is over, astronauts are taken away in a Soyuz capsules. They fall to Earth with a parachute to ease their landing. Welcome home!
