The ISS – its "construction in space"

[xileffilex]

I just came across this amusing lecture from October 2017 in which Bill Shepherd describes how the International Space Station was launched into space and extended….

He’s a good and convincing speaker, but….it’s all nonsense. No popping to the hardware store when they’ve forgotten or broken something in the “construction” phase.

Here’s the construction manual – do not attempt this at home [or in space]!
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/International_Space_Station/Building_the_International_Space_Station3

Here come the add-ons, in a familiar “live blog” style…
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/space-station-assembly

The latest piece of “kit” being the The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) [which] is an expandable habitat technology demonstration for the International Space Station

Space station crew members will enter the BEAM three to four times a year for a few hours at a time.
They will take measurements and monitor its performance to help inform designs for future habitat
systems

Onward to Mars [no point going to the moon again, we’ve been there, done it, lol!

suuuure
Soft play, inside the Bigelow [Big Lie] BEAM, the ISS August 2018

Background
From NASA – the horse’s mouth
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/iss_construction.html

And from the BBC
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151221-how-the-most-expensive-structure-in-the-world-was-built

Fantastic Russian – US collaboration. Cheers everyone.

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