It is the largest scientific and technological endeavour ever undertaken. It ranks as one of the largest non-military joint efforts in history. It is so complex that no one nation could have tackled it alone. The International Space Station marks a new era for mankind in space.
Sixteen countries are contributing to the construction of the largest spacecraft to be carried into orbit. By 2004, after 45 separate launches and the assembly of more than 100 elements, the International Space Station (ISS) will be complete.
Long before then, by January 2000, the first three ISS crew members will lift off aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur. They will begin a five-month sojourn on the station that initiates many years of permanent residence on the ISS. In time the station will provide a weightless haven for up to seven crew at any one time.
The most remarkable aspect of this tremendous endeavour is its international dimension. Former Cold War foes have abandoned old hatreds and world war combatants will be sharing bunk space on the ISS. The US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK have banded together in a project that has engaged more than 100,000 people at space agencies and contractor companies around the world.
The idea began 15 years ago as individual space nations realised that the next generation orbiting space station/laboratory was just too big a mission for any one country. While the US or the then USSR might have contemplated such a project, the overwhelming $60 billion cost made it too expensive to sell at home.
The ending of the Cold War was both a help and a hindrance to the project as it progressed. As the two key countries, the US and USSR, entered a new and unfamiliar level of technological co-operation it became easier to share expertise. The dismantling of the old Soviet state created financial instability and uncertainty, however, with the collapse of the Russian economy earlier this year only the latest fiscal crisis to disturb the smooth running of the project.
Despite the hurdles over the years, the project moved forward to yesterday's historic launch at 6.40 a.m. Irish time of the Russianbuilt, US-owned Zarya Control Module from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Called Sunrise in English, it was inserted into orbit after a nine-minute, 47-second ride on the back of a Proton rocket. This 20 tonne, 43 foot module will provide power and control systems for the station's first few months in orbit 240 miles overhead.
On December 3rd, the Space Shuttle Endeavour, with an international crew of six, will carry the second component, the US-built Unity module, into orbit and connection with Zarya. Unity provides six attachment points and will become the central hub of the ISS. Astronaut Nancy Currie will use the shuttle's robot arm to help join the two components, and three space walks will be needed to hook up power and data transmission cables between the two.
The next chunk of the station, the service module, is scheduled to be carried on board a Proton rocket to the ISS next July. It will provide the crew's living quarters. Three more shuttle flights will carry cargo modules, solar power panels and other equipment to the station before the first crew is launched to the ISS in January 2000.
As with almost everything to do with the ISS, the flight crew was selected well in advance and has been in training since 1996. US Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev will be the first to occupy the new station. They will initially have nearmonthly visits by shuttles ferrying up equipment and ISS components.
The US laboratory module will be delivered and hooked up in February 2000 and then several flights will deliver equipment to outfit it. At this point the real science can begin and the value of having a permanent perch in space will come to the fore.
Gravity shapes and moulds anything that grows, so without this force strange things can happen. Short-duration space shuttle flights have shown that protein crystals grown in the weightlessness of space are much purer than those grown on Earth. Shape is very important to the function of a protein and those grown in space have shown characteristics that might make them valuable in the treatment of illnesses. New drugs for influenza and post-surgical inflammation have already been developed as a result of this work and are undergoing clinical trials.
Researchers also hope to gain insights into ageing. Many of the changes in the body seen after long-duration space flight mimic those seen on Earth as a result of the ageing process, such as bone and muscle loss, sleep disorders and hypertension. The ISS will offer ample opportunity to study these effects and perhaps discover counter-measures.
Earth sciences will also benefit greatly from the eye in the sky afforded by the ISS. Marine studies, remote crop sensing, meteorology, geology, atmospheric studies, all will benefit from the potential afforded by long-duration observation and the application of new experimental equipment and techniques that can be developed for use on board the station.
The ISS will include several full laboratories, including the Columbus lab built by the European Space Agency and the Japanese experiment module. The station will be as much - or perhaps more - about science and research as about space flight.
Where does Ireland stand on all of this activity? Put simply, we aren't there at all. We are members of the European Space Agency (ESA), but we have not bought into the ISS programme. This does not preclude us from participating in some small way in the future if the Government stumps up the money.
There are Irish scientists, for example at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and at NUI Maynooth, with plenty of experience in both satellite experiment design and construction. We also have several companies specialising in software design for spacecraft who are regular contributors to ESA projects.
