ISS adding more spaceship parking

Written By: Chuck Bednar

Published Date: February 20, 2015 Last Edited: February 20, 2015

Christopher Pilny

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

For the first time since it was completed, the International Space Station (ISS) is undergoing renovations as NASA looks to accommodate additional spacecraft set to begin docking at the orbiting laboratory within the next few years.

According to Discovery News, the new parking spaces are expected to be in place before the end of the year, and come as the US space agency looks to end its relationship with Russia by the end of 2017 and begin using domestically built vehicles from Boeing and Space X.

NASA astronauts are currently ferried to the ISS on board Russian Soyuz rockets at a cost of more than $70 million per person, but contracts awarded to the two US firms in recent months should cut the cost of travelling to the space station by $12 million per person.

[STORY: Astronaut Builds LEGO ISS Model In Space]

However, in order to make room for the Boeing CST-100 and the SpaceX Dragon capsules that will be used for those missions, the station needs to be reconfigured to create new docking ports. One ports will be placed at the front end of the Harmony connecting node, the website explained, while the other will be at the module’s zenith, or up-facing, port.

ISS operations manager Kenneth Todd explained that the ships will also have to be equipped with docking targets, communications systems, and other gear. Those will be installed during a series of seven spacewalks planned to take place throughout 2015, the first of which was set to take place on Friday but was postponed until next week due to a suit issue.

The delayed extra-vehicular activity (EVA), one of three assembly spacewalks that will be conducted by NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts, will kick off the reconfiguration project by installing cables and preparing communications equipment, according to UPI reports.

Dude, where’s my spaceship?

A pair of International Docking Adapters, which are needed to convert the former space shuttle ports into docks suitable for the new vehicles, will be transported to the station as part of SpaceX resupply missions scheduled for later on this year. The changes will also allow the crew of the ISS to expand from a maximum of six astronauts to seven, NASA said in a statement.

“This is quite a bit of work,” space station program manager Mike Suffredini told Discovery News on Thursday, adding that the plan “has always been to have a docking capability in place and operational by the end of 2015, and we’re on track to do that.”

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told the website that the company’s upgraded Dragon V2 passenger ship is on pace to be ready for an unmanned debut test flight to the station in late 2016, followed by a crewed test flight in early 2017.

Boeing currently plans to make their first unmanned CST-100 test flight to the ISS in April 2017, followed by a crewed flight in July 2017, added company vice president John Elbon. The two US firms were awarded contracts under NASA’s Commercial Crew program in October.

Comments