The International Space Station
I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade.
—President Ronald Reagan, January 25, 1984
A space station is an orbiting structure designed to accommodate visiting crewmembers for an extended period of time. In 1984 the U.S. government envisioned building a continuously manned space station in which scientists would conduct long-term research in a micro-gravity environment. The station was to be large and spacious, with room for up to ten crewmembers at a time. The U.S. space shuttle was going to be the workhorse that carried cargo and astronauts to the station and back on a routine basis.
To save money on this expensive undertaking, the U.S. invited other countries to participate. Eventually fifteen countries did so, including Russia, which assumed a major role in the project. The space station became an international venture. It also became very expensive. The design was changed again and again to bring costs down. The development phase dragged on for more than a decade. In 1998 construction finally began on the International Space Station (ISS).
After five years a small portion of the ISS was in orbit around Earth. Then the space shuttle Columbia exploded.
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