TOP 11 interesting facts about the International Space Station (ISS)

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint international project involving 14 countries, including the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, and several European countries under the auspices of the European Space Agency. Its design began in 1984, with US President Ronald Reagan, who told NASA to design and build a new orbiting space station in 10 years. By the beginning of the 90s, it became clear that the scale and high cost of the project would not allow the United States to create it independently. The actual construction of the station began in 1998, when Russia, which joined the project, launched the first element of the ISS, the Zarya functional cargo block, into orbit. Since then, other countries have joined the project, building and adding their modules to the ISS. As a result, the ISS "plump" up to 460 tons and occupies the area of ​​a football field. Today we'll talk about ten interesting facts about the ISS that you may not have known about.

1. Why does ISS not fall?

There is such a thing as gravity. The International Space Station is located about 400-450 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, where the force of gravity is only 10 percent lower than what we experience on our planet. This is enough for the station to fall to Earth.  The ISS is falling. However, because the speed of the station's fall is practically equal to the rate with which it moves around the Earth, it falls in a circular orbit. In other words, due to centrifugal force, it does not fall, but sideways, that is, around the Earth. The same thing happens with our natural satellite, the Moon. It also falls around the Earth. The centrifugal force generated by the movement of the Moon around the earth compensates for the force of gravity between the planet and the Moon.

The constant fall of the ISS explains why the crew on board is in zero gravity, even though gravity is present inside the station. Since the speed of the ISS falling is compensated by its rotation around the Earth, the cosmonauts, being inside the station, actually do not move anywhere. They just float. Nevertheless, the ISS still descends from time to time, approaching the Earth. To compensate for this, the station's control center is correcting its orbit by briefly starting the engines and bringing it back to the previous altitude.

2. On the ISS, the Sun rises every 90 minutes

The International Space Station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes. Thanks to this, her crew observes the sunrise every 90 minutes. Every day, people on board the ISS see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets. Cosmonauts who spend 342 days at the station manage to see 5472 sunrises and 5472 sunsets. During the same time, a person on Earth will see only 342 lights and 342 sunsets.

Interestingly, the crew of the station does not see either dawn or dusk. However, they can see the terminator - the line separating those parts of the Earth where there are different times of the day. On Earth, people along this line at this time are watching dawn or dusk.

3. First Malaysian Astronaut aboard ISS Having Problems With Prayer

Sheikh Muzafar Shukor became the first Malaysian astronaut. On October 10, 2007, he embarked on a nine-day flight to the ISS. However, before his flight, he and his country faced an unusual problem. Shukor is a Muslim. This means that he needs to pray five times a day, as required by Islam. In addition, it turned out that the flight took place during the month of Ramadan when Muslims were supposed to fast.

Remember when we said that astronauts on the ISS meet sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes? This turned out to be a big problem for Shakur since it would be difficult for him to determine the time of prayer - in Islam, it is determined by the position of the Sun in the sky. In addition, when praying, Muslims should turn towards the Kaaba in Mecca. On the ISS, the direction to the Kaaba and Mecca will change every second. Thus, during prayer, Shukor could first be in the direction of the Kaaba and then parallel to it.

In addition, scientists and clerics agreed that there is no need for Shakur to kneel while praying if this is difficult to do in zero gravity aboard the ISS. There is also no need to carry out ablution with water. He was allowed to dry his body with a wet towel simply. He was also allowed to reduce the number of prayers from five to three. They also decided that Shakur does not need to fast since travelers are exempted from fasting in Islam.

4. Earthly politics

As stated earlier, the International Space Station does not belong to a single nation. It belongs to the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, and several European countries. If we are talking about the European Space Agency, each of these countries or groups of countries owns certain parts of the ISS, along with the modules they sent there.

The ISS itself is divided into two main segments: American and Russian. The right to use the Russian segment belongs exclusively to Russia. Americans allow other countries to use their feature. Most of the countries involved in the development of the ISS, in particular the United States and Russia, have moved their Earth policy into space.

The result was most unpleasant in 2014 after the US imposed sanctions on Russia and severed ties with several Russian businesses. One such venture turned out to be Roskosmos, the Russian equivalent of NASA. However, there was a big problem here.

5. There is no laundry on the ISS

There is no washing machine aboard the International Space Station. But, even if it was, the crew still does not have excess water that can be used for washing. One solution to the problem is to bring enough clothing with you to last the entire flight. But this luxury is not always the case.

Shipping 450 grams of cargo to the ISS costs 5-10 thousand dollars, and no one wants to spend so much money on delivering ordinary clothes. The crew returning to Earth cannot take their old clothes with them - there is little space in the spacecraft. Solution? Burn it all down.

It should be understood that the ISS crew does not need a daily change of clothes, as we do on Earth. Except for physical exercise (which we'll talk about below), astronauts on the ISS don't have to strain too hard in microgravity. The body temperature on the ISS is also monitored. All this allows people to wear the same clothes for up to four days before changing them.

6. The ISS crew does a lot

The crew of the International Space Station is almost constantly losing bone and muscle mass. Spending months in space, they lose about two percent of the reserves of minerals in the bones of the limbs. It doesn't sound like a lot, but this figure is increasing. A typical mission to the ISS can take up to 6 months. As a result, some crew members can lose up to 1/4 of the bone mass in some parts of their skeleton.

Space agencies are trying to find a way to reduce these losses by forcing the crew to exercise daily for two hours. Despite this, astronauts still lose muscle and bone mass. Since virtually every cosmonaut is regularly sent to the ISS trains, space agencies do not have control groups to determine the effectiveness of such training.

The simulators on the orbital station are also different from those we are used to using on Earth. The difference in gravity dictates the need to use only specific exercise machines.

7. Toilet use depends on the nationality of the crew

In the early days of the International Space Station, astronauts and cosmonauts used and shared the same equipment, apparatus, food, and even toilets. Things began to change around 2003 after Russia started to demand payments from other countries for their astronauts using their equipment. In turn, other countries began to require payment from Russia because its cosmonauts use their equipment.

The situation escalated in 2005 when Russia began to take money from NASA to deliver American astronauts to the ISS. In return, the United States banned a Russian astronaut from using American equipment, apparatus, and toilets.

8. Russia can cover up the ISS program

Russia cannot directly prohibit the US or any other country that participated in creating the ISS from using the station. However, it can block access to the station indirectly. As mentioned above, America needs Russia to deliver its astronauts to the ISS. In 2014, Dmitry Rogozin hinted that starting in 2020, Russia plans to spend money and resources allocated for the space program on other projects. The United States, in turn, wants to continue sending its astronauts to the ISS until at least 2024.

9.  There are weapons onboard the ISS

There are usually one or two pistols aboard the International Space Station. They belong to the astronauts but are stored in a "survival kit" that everyone at the station has access to. Each pistol has three barrels and can fire signal flares, rifle cartridges, and shotgun cartridges. They are also equipped with foldable elements that can be used as a shovel or knife.

It is unclear why cosmonauts should keep such multifunctional pistols onboard the ISS. Do you want to fight off aliens? However, it is inevitable that in 1965 some astronauts had to face aggressive wild bears who decided to taste the people who returned from space to Earth. The station may have weapons just for such cases.

10. Chinese tycoonauts are denied access to the ISS

Chinese tycoons are banned from visiting the International Space Station due to US sanctions imposed on China. In 2011, the US Congress banned any cooperation on space programs between the United States and China.

The ban was prompted by fears that the Chinese space program is being tacitly conducted for aggressive purposes. The United States, in turn, does not want to help the Chinese military and engineers in any way, so the ISS for China is banned.

11. There are two existing space stations in the world

one is the Chinese Tianhe Space Station, and the other is the International Space Station, led by the United States. Due to repeated rejections of applications, China has never had the opportunity to participate in the International Space Station project. But now the International Space Station should be decommissioned in 2024, and our Tianhe space station will be assembled next year, "

The Chinese are great! In a situation of complete blockade by others, they can independently build their space station. This is just a miracle of miracles! It is hard to imagine what human civilization can achieve in a hundred years ... I appeal to the wisdom of the Chinese people! I am amazed at the development of human science and technological society! "

In the textbooks on the history of the future, we will be proud to contemplate that on June 17, 2021, the Chinese entered their space station for the first time, "