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The International Standard Payload Rack (ISPR) is a steel framework container that is designed and been adopted by the International Space Station (ISS) program to support efficient integration and interchangeability of space payload hardware, such as machines and experiments. A typical rack contains 37 ISPR slots for science payloads, which are interchangeable to accommodate different components or payloads.
Each ISPR provides 1.571 m3 (55.5 cu ft) of internal volume being about 2 m (79 in) high, 1.05 m (41 in) wide, and 85.9 cm (33.8 in) deep. The rack weighs 104 kg (230 lb) and can accommodate an additional 700 kg (1,500 lb) of payload equipment. [1] The rack has internal mounting provisions to allow attachment of secondary structure. The ISPRs will be outfitted with a thin center post to accommodate sub-rack-sized payloads, such as the 483 mm (19-inch rack) Spacelab Standard Interface Rack (SIR) Drawer or the Space Shuttle Middeck Locker. Utility pass-through ports are located on each side to allow cables to be run between Racks. Module attachment points are provided at the top of the rack and via pivot points at the bottom. The pivot points support installation and maintenance. Tracks on the exterior front posts allow mounting of payload equipment and laptop computers. Additional adapters on the ISPRs are provided for ground handling.[ citation needed ]
The International Standard Payload Rack are the size of a side-by-side refrigerator, and is too big to fit through the Russian probe and drogue docking system, APAS, or NDS docking systems, and therefore cannot be transferred directly from a Progress, ATV, or the interior of the Space Shuttle to the ISS. [2] [ citation needed ] In the past ISPRs were delivered in Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, which were carried in the Space Shuttle cargo bay and berthed to CBM ports. Cygnus spacecraft hatches are too narrow to fit ISPRs with their 37 inches (94 cm) wide openings and Cargo Dragon 1 spacecraft have no capability to either launch or return ISPRs because of the design of the pressurized section of the Cargo Dragon 1 spacecraft which can only transport cargo bags and smaller racks. Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft have 31 inches (79 cm) wide hatch openings and can not fit the 41.3 inches (105 cm) wide ISPRs. As of 2020 [update] ISPRs can only be delivered using the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. [3]
Japan has developed an ISPR with interfaces and capabilities nearly identical to NASA's.[ citation needed ]
Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station (ISS) and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed Kibō, is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station (ISS) developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on Space Shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124. The third and final components were launched on STS-127.
STS-105 was a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 10 August 2001. This mission was Discovery's final mission until STS-114, because Discovery was grounded for a refit, and then all Shuttles were grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster. The refit included an update of the flight deck to the glass cockpit layout, which was already installed on Atlantis and Columbia.
The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), also called Kounotori, is an expendable, automated cargo spacecraft used to resupply the Kibō Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) and the International Space Station (ISS). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been working on the design since the early 1990s. The first mission, HTV-1, was originally intended to be launched in 2001. It launched at 17:01 UTC on 10 September 2009 on an H-IIB launch vehicle. The name Kounotori was chosen for the HTV by JAXA because "a white stork carries an image of conveying an important thing, therefore, it precisely expresses the HTV's mission to transport essential materials to the ISS". The HTV is very important for resupplying the ISS because after the retirement of the Space Shuttle it is the only vehicle that can transfer new 41.3 in (105 cm) wide International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs) and dispose old ISPRs that can fit the 51 in (130 cm) wide tunnels between modules in the US Orbital Segment.
A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a large pressurized container that was used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Two MPLMs made a dozen trips in the Shuttle cargo bay and initially berthed to the Unity module and later the Harmony module on the ISS. From there, supplies were offloaded, and finished experiments and waste were reloaded. The MPLM was then reberthed in the Shuttle for return to Earth. Three modules were built by the Italian Space Agency (ASI): Leonardo, Raffaello, and Donatello.
The Destiny module, also known as the U.S. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001. Destiny is NASA's first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974.
Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) are made primarily to deliver cargo, however several Russian modules have also docked to the outpost following uncrewed launches. Resupply missions typically use the Russian Progress spacecraft, European Automated Transfer Vehicles, Japanese Kounotori vehicles, and the American Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft. The primary docking system for Progress spacecraft is the automated Kurs system, with the manual TORU system as a backup. ATVs also use Kurs, however they are not equipped with TORU. The other spacecraft — the Japanese HTV, the SpaceX Dragon and the Northrop Grumman Cygnus — rendezvous with the station before being grappled using Canadarm2 and berthed at the nadir port of the Harmony or Unity module for one to two months. Progress, Cygnus and ATV can remain docked for up to six months. Under CRS phase 2, Cargo Dragon docks autonomously at IDA-2 or 3 as the case may be. As of December 2022, Progress spacecraft have flown most of the uncrewed missions to the ISS.
The Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF), originally the Space Station Processing Facility, is a three-story industrial building at Kennedy Space Center for the manufacture and processing of flight hardware, modules, structural components and solar arrays of the International Space Station, and future space stations and commercial spacecraft. It was built in 1992 at the space complex's industrial area, just east of the Operations and Checkout Building.
An EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (ExPRESS) Logistics Carrier (ELC) is an unpressurized attached payload platform for the International Space Station (ISS) that provides mechanical mounting surfaces, electrical power, and command and data handling services for Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) as well as science experiments on the ISS. The ELCs were developed primarily at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with support from JSC, KSC, and MSFC. ELC was formerly called "Express Pallet" and is the unpressurized counterpart to the pressurized ExPRESS Rack. An ELC provides scientists with a platform and infrastructure to deploy experiments in the vacuum of space without requiring a separate dedicated Earth-orbiting satellite.
The process of assembling the International Space Station (ISS) has been under way since the 1990s. Zarya, the first ISS module, was launched by a Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The STS-88 Space Shuttle mission followed two weeks after Zarya was launched, bringing Unity, the first of three node modules, and connecting it to Zarya. This bare 2-module core of the ISS remained uncrewed for the next one and a half years, until in July 2000 the Russian module Zvezda was launched by a Proton rocket, allowing a maximum crew of three astronauts or cosmonauts to be on the ISS permanently.
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions. Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, partially funded by NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. To create Cygnus, Orbital paired the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by Thales Alenia Space and previously used by the Space Shuttle for ISS logistics, with a service module based on Orbital's GEOStar, a satellite bus. After a successful demonstration flight in 2013, Orbital was chosen to receive a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. A larger Enhanced Cygnus was introduced in 2015. Orbital Sciences was renamed Orbital ATK in 2015 and Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in 2018 and has continued to operate Cygnus missions.
Space logistics is "the theory and practice of driving space system design for operability and supportability, and of managing the flow of materiel, services, and information needed throughout a space system lifecycle." It includes terrestrial logistics in support of space travel, including any additional "design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of space materiel", movement of people in space, and contracting and supplying any required support services for maintaining space travel. The space logistics research and practice primarily focus on the modeling and management of the astro-logistics supply chain from Earth and on to destinations throughout the solar system as well as the system architecture strategies to minimize both logistics requirements and operational costs of human and robotic operations in space.
Expedition 27 was the 27th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), starting on 16 March 2011. Expedition 27 saw numerous notable events, including the undocking of the Progress M-09M and Kounotori 2 spacecraft, the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-21 and Progress M-10M spacecraft, and the final rendezvous with the ISS of NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour, on its last mission, STS-134. The expedition ended on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft, although command of the station was ceremonially handed over to the crew of Expedition 28 on 22 May.
The Johannes Kepler ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 002 (ATV-002), was an uncrewed cargo spacecraft built to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on February 16, 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA). Johannes Kepler carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb), and had a total mass of over 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb), making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA. The spacecraft was named after the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
HTV-1, also known as the HTV Demonstration Flight or HTV Technical Demonstration Vehicle, was the first flight of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle, launched in September 2009 to resupply the International Space Station and support the JAXA Kibō module or Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). It was an uncrewed cargo spacecraft carrying a mixture of pressurised and unpressurised cargo to the International Space Station. After a 52-day successful mission, HTV departed the ISS on 31 October 2009 after being released by the station's robotic arm. The spacecraft re-entered in the atmosphere of Earth on 1 November 2009 and disintegrated on re-entry as planned.
Kounotori 2, also known as HTV-2, was launched in January 2011 and was the second flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched by the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 2 manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA. After the supplies were unloaded, Kounotori 2 was loaded with waste material from ISS, including used experiment equipment and used clothes. Kounotori 2 was then unberthed and separated from the ISS and burned up upon reentering the atmosphere on 30 March 2011.
The Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) is an experiment rack facility manufactured by the Brazilian Space Agency, which remotely operated payloads and crew members can perform Earth and space science research, including hand held photography, at the U.S. Laboratory Science Window on the International Space Station. WORF is based on an International Standard Payload Rack (ISPR) and utilizes avionics and hardware adapted from the EXPRESS Rack program. The rack provides a payload volume equivalent to 0.8 m3 (28 cu ft), and will be able to support up to three payloads simultaneously, depending on available resources and space available at the window. The WORF will also provide access and equipment for crew Earth observations, such as crew restraints, camera/camcorder brackets, and condensation prevention. WORF payloads include those focusing on geology, agriculture, ranching, environmental and coastal changes, and education.
Kounotori 3, also known as HTV-3, was the third flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. It was launched on 21 July 2012 to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3 manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA. Kounotori 3 arrived at the ISS on 27 July 2012, and Expedition 32 Flight Engineer and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide used the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to install Kounotori 3, to its docking port on the Earth-facing side (nadir) of the Harmony module at 14:34 UTC.
New Space-Station Resupply Vehicle, tentatively called HTV-X, is an uncrewed expendable cargo spacecraft under development by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as the successor of H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). As of December 2023, the first flight is planned to be launched in early 2025 to resupply the International Space Station.
The project to create the International Space Station required the utilization and/or construction of new and existing manufacturing facilities around the world, mostly in the United States and Europe. The agencies overseeing the manufacturing involved NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency. Hundreds of contractors working for the five space agencies were assigned the task of fabricating the modules, trusses, experiments and other hardware elements for the station.
Bay one can carry four International Standard Payloads Racks (ISPRs), than can be removed from the HTV and transferred to the ISS.