LOL, yeah, I'll bet it is.
Posted on 07/27/2011 12:43:34 PM PDT by Red Badger
Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, its space agency said Wednesday.
"After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish," said deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov.
"Right now we've agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 2020," he said in comments released on Wednesday.
Space junk is becoming an increasingly serious headache.
A piece of space debris narrowly missed the space station last month in a rare incident that forced the six-member crew to scramble to their rescue craft.
The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments bringing together space agencies from Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
Launched in 1998, the ISS was initially expected to remain in space for 15 years until an agreement was reached to keep it operating through 2020.
By going into a watery grave, the ISS will repeat the fate of its predecessor space station Mir, which Russia sank in the Pacific Ocean in 2001 after 15 years of service.
Moscow this month proclaimed the beginning of "the era of the Soyuz" after the US shuttle's last flight left the Russian system as the sole means for delivering astronauts to the ISS.
Russia is currently developing a new space ship to replace the Soyuz capsule which is single-use, except for the section in which spacemen return to Earth, said Davydov.
Tests of the ship will begin after 2015 and it will have "elements of multi-use whose level will be much higher than they are today," he said, adding that Russia will compete with the United States in building the new-generation ship.
"We'll race each other."
Davydov said it remains unclear what will come after the ISS and whether mankind will see the need for a replacement orbiting close to Earth.
"Lots of our tasks are still linked to circumterrestrial space," he said, while adding that a new space station could be used as a base for building complexes that will explore deeper into space.
"I cannot rule out that it will be used to put together, create the complexes that in the future will fly to the Moon and Mars," he said, stressing that "a serious exploration" could not be done without manned flights.
Put it in orbit around the moon.
You’re no fun......
Didn’t take long for the Russians to take control of the ISS. Next they’ll stop Spacex and others from docking at the ISS.
Google "Escape Velocity."
That was the original plan.
The Shuttle would haul the parts needed, for a Mars exploration vehicle, up to the ISS, where the Mars vehicle would be assembled. The thinking was that a vehicle large enough to house astronauts for many months would be too large and heavy to boost into orbit as one piece. The staff needed to assemble the Mars vehicle would live in the ISS.
Then, after the astronauts returned from Mars, many months later, they would live in isolation on the ISS until it was determined that they were not contaminated.
If you like science fiction, watch some of the movies where humans are departing Earth for deep space travel. They depart Earth from an orbiting space facility. That's what the ISS was supposed to be.
The Shuttle and ISS were never used as originally planned. The original plans were trashed during the Carter Administration. If you got a bitch about what the Shuttle and ISS didn't do, take it up with him.
LOL, yeah, I'll bet it is.
That looks like a bagel........
The ISS accomplished nothing scientifically. There was no reason for another low earth orbit space station. We already had Skylab in the 1970’s and that was a waste also.
I remember what a Russian cosmonaut said about Mir when asked what they did on it.
He replied, “You eat, sleep, and fix Mir.”..........
Now just how? are we going to build a new ship in ,the Kenyan model out of cow dung and sticks!
I would take it a step further. We have gained nothing scientifically from being in space. The scientific gains we've made have been from trying to get into space.
Sure, we went to the moon and brought back a bunch of rocks which told us what we already knew about the moon. And, we also left a laser reflector on the moon's surface so we can measure it's precise orbit.
Beyond sight-seeing trips, there's no reason to put people into space. Nothing can be done in space that can't be done cheaper and faster right here on earth.
Free Tacos for U.S. If Mir Hits Floating Taco Bell Ocean Target - Taco Bell sets 40 by 40 foot target in South Pacific for Mir’s Re-Entry
Source: Taco Bell Corp. Posted Monday, March 19, 2001
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=4152
LOL! I bet a bunch of SpceCom guys and thinking about that right now!
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