After a long time, the local (Hyderabad) newspapers covered
news of the International Space Station (ISS) stating that at 6 p.m. today, the
ISS would be visible all over India as a small bright light for two minutes and
in that context wrote about the 10th anniversary of the Space Station on 2nd
November 2010. However, for those following news on the internet, there is
always some interesting information about ISS. Just two days back there was
news of ISS urgently correcting its orbit to avoid collision with
Space-garbage. It was maneuvered to an orbit 700 metres higher, and its speed
increased by 0.4 metres per second. And then there is regular news of unmanned
cargo spaceship carrying food, fuel and other supplies to ISS and about the
interesting phases of docking and glitches that are overcome. There is always
detailed news when the crew changes or some tourists visit ISS, but however the
most memorable news for the entire world must have been when a Japanese couple
got married there. And in these ten years much has been accomplished by
enlarging the ISS and by many expeditions and experiments and making the whole
project of traveling and living in space a big success. However the rumor of
abandoning it towards 2016 due to lack of budget is depressing, I hope it is
not true.
Though the newspapers have mentioned of the visibility of ISS
in India this evening, it would not be possible for anyone without the
knowledge of the exact bearings. As a consolation and to all those interested
in seeing the ISS, I am offering a link to – “Live Real Time ISS Tracking”: http://www.n2yo.com/ , and the above
photographs will give you an idea of ISS and life on it.
You may read on, if you are interested in knowing some basic
facts about ISS. The ISS was constructed as a joint venture of NASA, Russian
Federal Space Agency, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, The Canadian
Space Agency and the European Space Agency. The first team of crew arrived on
ISS on 2nd November 2000. The crew normally of six members consists of
Americans and Russians. They stay on ISS for duration of about six months, and
then they are replaced. They have a routine just as on earth but live under
zero gravity condition, which is not easy. The shape and parts of the ISS and
its size in comparison to a Boeing 747 aircraft can be seen in the above
pictures and its weight is 370,000 Kg. It orbits around us at an altitude of
360 Km. and at an average speed of 27,743 Km./Hr. That means, it orbits earth
in just 91 minutes, that is 16 times every day! Congratulations and Best Wishes
to all those involved with ISS and Good Luck and Long Life to ISS!
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