SPACE STATIONS
Space stations also known as an orbital station or an
orbital space station are a manned satellite. It is designed to remain in space for a long period of time. It is so big in size that even a space shuttle
can dock with it. Other vehicles like space shuttles are used to transport
people and material to and from a space station.
Russia and the USA are the two major countries that have
successfully launched space stations. Salyut, Mir, Skylab international space
stations are the major space stations positioned in space.
1. 1. Salyut space station
Salyut program was launched by Russia (Soviet
Union). It was the first space station
in the world. The Salyut program consisted of nine space stations to be launched in a period of eleven years from 1971 to 1982. It is
objective was to carry out research the program concluded in 1991.
Among all the Space Station in salute the program, Salyut 7 had the longest stick of the 3216 days Francis and Indian
astronauts have also visited this space station.
The last two
space stations of the Salyut program were DOS-7 and DOS-8. (DOS: Durable
orbital station). DOS-7 became popular as a MIR space station and DOS-8 became a part
of the international space station. Both are being discussed in this chapter.
1. 2. Skylab space station
Skylab was an American space station. It was
launched in 1973 and spent 2249 days in orbit from 1973 to 1979. It weighed 77 tons.
Nine astronauts had visited this space station in 1973.
NASA abandoned it in 1974 and then in 1987
plans were made to keep using it because all its systems were intact and
operational.
On July 11, 1979, the Skylab destroyed and fell back to the earth. Hours before
its fall, the ground controllers adjusted its path so that its debris could
fall in the ocean, i.e. 810 southeasts of
Capetown. Also, it did not burn as fast as expected when it entered the earth’s atmosphere. Due to
4% error, its debris fell in western Australia and not near south Africa.
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