Upgrading the Space Station.

From Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The International Space Station (ISS) will be the largest human-made object ever to orbit the Earth. The station is so large that it could not be launched all at once -- it is being built piecemeal with large sections added continually by flights of the Space Shuttle. To function, the ISS needs trusses to keep it rigid and to route electricity and liquid coolants. These trusses are huge, extending over 15 meters long, and with masses over 10,000 kilograms. Pictured above earlier this month, astronauts Robert L. Curbeam (USA) and Christer Fuglesang (Sweden) work to attach a new truss segment to the ISS and begin to upgrade the power grid.

Link | ISS [wiki] | See also: Space Shuttle Discovery Fun Facts

Newest 4

Newest 4 Comments

where in the world is that place. ive seen this picture and tried to figure it out but als i cannot, does any one know where that land mass behind them is.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I doubt it, Moon--the ISS will probably serve as a sort of way-station for trips. I can't see NASA just abandoning the Space Station after putting so much work into it, and I'm sure that this is exactly what they had in mind--to use the ISS as a stopping-and-refueling point for shuttles.

--Twodragons

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

The US is talking about building their own Space Station, this time on the surface of the MOON! YIKES!

I wonder if that means we will abandon the ISS.