The space station has been a long awaited project, as the first space station idea was drafted up in 1984. A resolution was made to place a permanent, livable space station in orbit. When President Ronald Reagan announced his 1984 State of the Union address, he included plans for a space station to be in orbit by the mid 1990's. The idea of having an operable, livable, space station seemed to be inconceivable to everyone who heard that speech. As the ideas for this project began to take off, the main concern was money. How much funding would be necessary to construct a space station?

At first, NASA could only work within the agency's estimated $8.5 billion dollar budget. It was in 1984 when the first construction

Then in 1986, tragedy struck the entire space program. After the disastrous explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA faced constant rising costs, and was forced to re-evaluate the Freedom project. This led to a phase-plan for construction to take place totally in outer space. Everything would be built on earth, but placed together in space, hopefully cutting the skyrocketing costs. Phase 1 would be the horizontal and vertical structure beams, and the four main pressurized modules. Phase 2, which will not start until the first one is totally completed, would bring up everything else that was constructed for use on the station. The second phase seemed a little to drastic and once again; NASA had to make changes to its "Freedom Phase" station.

It was in 1991, that NASA brought up an almost identical, but smaller version of the phase project. This let the modules be fully equipped with all the necessary equipment without having to overload the Space Shuttle, and it cut the amounts of flights in half to get all the pieces to outer space. Still, the exact timetable remains unclear, as one delay could push back the whole project. In the summer of 1991, NASA proposed that in 1995 assembly would begin, and completed by 1999, with a total of 17 Space Shuttle missions.

To get most of the modules into space is a task on its own. NASA is relying heavily on the Space Shuttle, and hopes to have a remodeled version to assist by 2000. For now, two types of Russian rockets will help carry the pieces into space. A total of 45 missions will be needed to launch and assemble the more than 100 parts needed to complete the ISS. The Space Shuttle will be used also to transport food, equipment, and experiments to and from the station, using three Italian Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (pressurized containers). Equipment or materials not need to be pressurized will be transferred in Brazil's Unpressurized Logistics Carrier, along with an express pallet carrying experiments to be place outside the ISS.

Although those four nations are making up the bulk of the station, a total of 16 nations are actively participating. They are Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. More than 10,000 people are involved through out all the countries listed.

The "power tower" concept required too many parts and shuttle missions for it to be completed. That would force the cost of the project to exceed NASA's budget. The following year in 1985, a new, updated station concept was drafted. This was called the "dual keel" concept, and included two vertical towers joined and braced together with three horizontal beams. This structure would allow four pressurized operable and livable modules to be placed around the central meeting points of the beams.

The international Space Station, a testbed for new technologies, will allow us to take the next step into human exploration of the solar system. It will bring faster utilization in both developing products in space and applying gained knowledge for use on earth. Called by some as the "Vehicle" that will finally bring together the world through government, academics, and industrial cooperation.

Russia is the second largest supplier other than NASA, supplying many vital modules; the first was the Russian Functional Cargo Block (FGB). This module will be used for navigation, control, power, life support systems, and for crew living. It was scheduled to be launch in July along with the US Node 1, becoming the first pieces in orbit. Japan became next in line with the production of there JEM, or Japanese Experiment Module. This was the first part offered to NASA by Japan, which will be one of the next major modules to join the ISS in space. The JEM will be attached at one end and have a pallet on the other for experiments to be conducted directly in outer space.

Europe, who was planning an a

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Approximate Word count = 2758
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)