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End of an Era: Legacy of the ISS

Over the summer, NASA announced its plans to decommission and de-orbit the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023. While the project is still years away, I thought it important to give the craft a form of obituary before its time came.


Initially, the ISS was conceived as an entirely American venture. Throughout the 1980s, NASA developed the Space Station Freedom concept; eventually, NASA realised that the high costs would be too much for it to take on. As such, both the European Space Agency and Japan were invited to join the project. As the 1980s came and went, the newly formed Russian Federation became the inheritor of the Soviet Space Program. Due to the heightened political tensions at the time, there were very few resources to be spared. This would mean their previous plans would have to be downscaled dramatically, and scientists would be laid off. However, NASA came to the Russians with a proposition: incorporate the parts planned for new Russian stations into a modified Freedom design that would come to be known as the ISS. Russia agreed and began working alongside NASA to develop the station fully.



On the 20th of November, 1998, the first section of the ISS was launched. Carried on the back of a Russian rocket, it marked the cornerstone of the most expensive construction project ever. It would shortly be joined by an American module delivered by the shuttle Endeavour. The joining of these two pieces was the culmination of years of work by scientists from across the globe to realise a vision of international cooperation in outer space. The ISS would deliver on that vision once the first crew arrived in the year 2000 and began a 24-year-long continuous expedition for the benefit of all. While it would be impossible to list every breakthrough or experiment the ISS contributed to, this article will share some of its most important developments. Some of the station's most impactful work was in the prevention of muscle and bone loss among its crew. The longer a person is in space, the more their body wants to atrophy as its bones and muscles see far less use in a microgravity environment. Over the short term, this is not a cause for much worry, but it becomes dangerous when the ISS crews remain onboard for long durations. Scientists have thus spent decades working on ways to counteract this effect. This research has then been used to help those on Earth suffering from conditions akin to this effect.


Water is essential for life, but its weight poses a challenge. Transporting materials into orbit is costly, and the heavier they are, the more expensive it becomes.  With these facts in mind, engineers and scientists worked to make the ISS recycle as much water as possible. To that end, they have managed to ensure that 93 per cent of all water on the station is recycled. With climate change approaching, systems derived from the ISS will only become more critical as every water drop must be accounted for.


The ISS still has several more years before it is deorbited into the Earth’s atmosphere and it burns up, but as the planning for that future date has begun, it is difficult not to feel melancholic. The station has travelled 6 billion kilometres and will travel another 1.5 before it is brought down. When laid to rest near Point Nemo in the South Pacific, it will have contributed 30 years of research to humanity, a monument to international scientific cooperation. Hopefully, it will not be our last such endeavour.


Image by Isabelle Holloway



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