Tim Furniss/LONDON
The International Space Station (ISS) project reached an important point on 17 January, with the roll-out and shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan of the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) module. Launch of the system by a Proton booster is due on 30 June.
The lift-off will mark the start of the ISS programme, which will involve 45 Russian and US launches between this year and 2004, when the space station's construction should be completed, at a total cost of $60 billion since its inception in 1984 (Flight International, 11-17 June, 1997).
The FGB, renamed the Control Module by NASA, has been built by Khrunichev, with assistance from Boeing, under a $100 million contract from NASA. The module is the only Russian component to be built using NASA funds. Russia is providing its own funding for its substantial contribution to the ISS.
Khrunichev is also completing the Service Module, to be launched in December, and has started work on a multi-purpose docking module, for launch in 2000.
The release of the final element of $250 million of Russian funding for the Service Module has been ordered by president Boris Yeltsin.
The 20t Control Module will provide early power and propulsion for the ISS, as well as the capability to rendezvous and dock remotely with the Service Module.
Between the lift-off of the Control and Service Modules, the Space Shuttle/STS88/Endeavour, commanded by Robert Cabana, will be launched in July to dock the Node 1 connecting module and two pressurised mating adaptors to the Control Module. Three spacewalks will be needed to complete electrical connections during the Shuttle's 11-day mission.
While work gathers pace on the ISS, improvements are also taking place on the Shuttle to allow it to fulfil the building mission.The first lightweight external fuel-tank, to be flown on the STS88, was unveiled at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 16 January.
The Lockheed Martin-built, aluminium-lithium tank is 3,175kg lighter than the metal-alloy external tank used today, enabling the Shuttle to reach the 51¹ inclination for the ISS with a reasonable payload capacity.
Following the STS88 and Service Module launches, the STS96/ Endeavour will be launched in December for a logistics-supply mission, to be followed by the STS99/Atlantis, with communications transponders, a third mating adaptor and other equipment, in January 1999.
The first crew to man the ISS will be launched later in January 1999 aboard a Russian Soyuz TM craft carrying NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd, who has been assigned as the first ISS commander.
Source: Flight International
