Will the Space Station be Constructed on Time?
While the Mir story is still playing to packed audiences everywhere, its sequel is already in the works. Coming in June 2002: The International Space Station. The ISS has five parents: NASA, the Russian Space Agency, the European Space Agency; Japan's National Space Development Agency and the Canadian CSA. NASA divides the ISS project into three distinct phases. Phase I is the one you already knew about: the Shuttle-Mir missions. Phase II, intended to kick off in November, is already eight months behind schedule because construction of the station's very first component was left to the mortally poor Russian space program.
In this phase, the Russians were to build a propulsion and attitude control module that would serve as the heart of the station. It is not yet ready. NASA is fuming, but the Russian presence in the project is still considered too valuable to discard. That may change if NASA decides to build one of its own. Meanwhile it scrambles for ways to recover the lost time. Under the original schedule, a crew of three will commence permanent occupation of the station next May. Later next year the Canadian Mobile Servicing System will be launched, and Phase III begins with the delivery of NASA's first contribution, the Laboratory Module.
In June 2002, the U.S. Habitation Module arrives on board Shuttle flight STS-122, along with a full-time crew of six. A Soyuz capsule will be permanently docked as as emergency escape craft, and voila! Human history's most expensive hotel will be open for business, along with what is bound to be the expense-account restaurant with the most spectacular view. Expect rich civilians to arrive as soon as the astronauts learn how to make hospital corners in zero-gravity.-- Frank Pellegrini
