Space Station has to wait for its scientific Destiny
The International Space Station will now have to wait for delivery of first science facility - the US laboratory 'Destiny' - after the launch of space shuttle Atlantis was cancelled this week.
The US$1.4 billion Destiny is a laboratory module enabling experiments in the near-zero gravity of space. The module will end up with 24 payload racks supporting facilities for research in biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion and life sciences.
In microgravity - also called weightlessness - fluids no longer convect or flow because one part is lighter or heavier than the other. These conditions allow materials scientists to investigate the fundamental properties that control how materials form and behave.
The module is 8.5 metre long and 4.3 metre in diameter and consists of three cylindrical sections and two endcones with hatches that will be mated to other station components. It has an exterior covered by a debris shiled blanket made of a material similar to that used in bulletproof vests on Earth.
The current space station crew have passed their 73rd day in space and will live onboard for about 120 days before being replaced by another team of one Russian commander and two Americans. The ISS, which is a joint project of the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 370 kilometers. It is scheduled for completion in 2006 and will have as much pressurised space as a 747 jumbo jet.