How to build a football-pitch-sized laboratory in orbit
In short: The International Space Station is too massive to be launched as a single unit. This video explores the complex logistical feat of assembling a 400-tonne structure piece-by-piece in the vacuum of space.
Because no existing rocket is powerful enough to lift the entire station at once, the International Space Station was constructed in orbit approximately 400 km above Earth. The assembly process required more than 40 separate missions to piece together the structure, which eventually reached a weight of almost 400 tonnes.
The project represents a massive international cooperation between NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and the CSA. Logistics are categorized by specific flight codes, such as 'LF' for Logistics Flights and 'UL' for Utilisation Flights, to manage the constant flow of components and supplies to the world's largest cooperative science program.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Logistics of the International Space Station
- Also: Building the International Space Station
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