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The process of assembling the International Space Station (ISS) has been under way since the 1990s. ''Zarya'', the first ISS module, was launched by a Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The STS-88 shuttle mission followed two weeks after ''Zarya'' was launched, bringing ''Unity'', the first of three node modules, and connecting it to ''Zarya''. This bare 2-module core of the ISS remained unmanned for the next one and a half years, until in July 2000 the Russian module ''Zvezda'' was added, allowing a minimum crew of two astronauts or cosmonauts to be on the ISS permanently. The ISS has a planned pressurized volume of approximately 1,000 cubic meters, a mass of approximately 400,000 kilograms, approximately 100 kilowatts of power output, a truss 108.4 meters long, modules 74 meters long, and a crew of six. Building the complete station will require more than 40 assembly flights. As of March 2011, 26 Space Shuttle flights have docked with ISS to add elements, and 9 other Shuttle flights have flown logistics-servicing missions to ISS without adding major external elements. These 35 Shuttle missions include 9 SpaceHab and 10 MPLM logistics-servicing missions in various combinations. The last two planned Shuttle flights are due to add one of the two final elements of ISS, followed by one last Proton launch with the planned delivery of the ERA. Other assembly flights have consisted of modules lifted by the Russian Proton rocket or in the case of Pirs and Poisk by a Soyuz-U rocket. Some of the larger modules include: * Zarya (launched 20 November 1998) * Unity Module (launched 4 December 1998, ''also known as Node 1'') * Zvezda (launched 12 July 2000) * Destiny Laboratory Module (launched 7 February 2001) * Columbus orbital facility (launched 7 February 2008) * Japanese Experiment Module, ''also known as Kibo'' (launched in multiple flights between 2008-2009) * The truss and solar panels are also a large part of the station. (launched in multiple flights between 2000-2009) ==Logistics== The space station is located in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of approximately , a type of orbit usually termed low Earth orbit (the actual height varies over time by several kilometers due to atmospheric drag and reboosts). It orbits Earth in a period of about 90 minutes; by August 2007 it had completed more than 50,000 orbits since launch of ''Zarya'' on 20 November 1998. A total of 14 main pressurized modules are scheduled to be part of the ISS by its completion date in 2010. A number of smaller pressurized sections will be adjunct to them (Soyuz spacecraft (permanently 2 as lifeboats - 6 months rotations), Progress transporters (2 or more), the Quest and Pirs airlocks, as well as periodically the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, the Automated Transfer Vehicle and the H-II Transfer Vehicle). The ISS, when completed, will consist of a set of communicating pressurized modules connected to a truss, on which four large pairs of photovoltaic modules (solar panels) are attached. The pressurized modules and the truss will be perpendicular: the truss spanning from starboard to port and the habitable zone extending on the aft-forward axis. Although during the construction the station attitude may vary, when all four photovoltaic modules are in their definitive position the aft-forward axis will be parallel to the velocity vector. In addition to the assembly and utilization flights, approximately 30 Progress spacecraft flights are required to provide logistics until 2010. Experimental equipment, fuel and consumables are and will be delivered by all vehicles visiting the ISS: the Shuttle, the SpaceX Dragon, the Russian Progress, the European ATV and the Japanese HTV, and space station downmass will be carried back to Earth facilities on both the Shuttle and the Dragon.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Assembly of the International Space Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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