How the most expensive structure in the world was built
The International Space Station is a masterpiece of engineering and human ingenuity. But this $100bn project has been beset by politics, compromise and tragedy. Richard Hollingham, who witnessed the launch of the first section of the station for the BBC in 1998, investigates how we ended up with the ISS.
In mission control rooms around the world – in Houston, Moscow and Munich – a daily reality TV show is played out on giant screens. It is the dullest reality show you will ever watch. There is no conflict or peril, little tension and certainly no romance. The best you can hope for is a view of an astronaut’s backside floating past the camera.
This is the reality of day-to-day life on the International Space Station (ISS): astronauts living and working together to strict timelines – eating, sleeping, exercising, conducting scientific experiments and fixing the plumbing.
It may not be Apollo 13, but this is exactly the way the space agencies like it. Since the ISS was first permanently occupied in 2000, Russian, American, Japanese, Canadian and European astronauts have lived and worked together 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the Earth. One of the greatest triumphs of the ISS is to make space appear routine, boring even.
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151221-how-the-most-expensive-structure-in-the-world-was-built
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First, we scrapped the Saturn V (or, if you wish, the Up Goer Five). That was a huge mistake if humankind was ever to make inroads to space exploration. Instead, we built the Space Shuttle, which in case anybody noticed, had a horrible safety record. Two crews dead. And it had no mission beyond low-Earth orbit which we had been doing fairly safely since Alan Shepard. Yes, Apollo 1 killed three astronauts. But we brought back another three safely after a horrendous incident on Apollo 13. Thank you, Gene Krantz.
Space is fucking dangerous. We go there, not because it is easy, but because it is difficult, to summarize JFK.
We need to reclaim these journeys. Low Earth orbit is not enough when we have the tech to go much further.
I would double the NASA budget to see just how far we can go.
My best to you all.
