WEBVTT - What Lies Ahead for the International Space Station? 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.560 He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.160 job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.840 Radio and love all things tech. And today we are 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.560 going to try and finally wrap up our look at 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:27.320 the International Space Station and this series of episodes about 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.840 space stations in general. Though you know there's going to 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.640 be some stuff that obviously I just won't touch on, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.279 because I mean, you could do a full mini series 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.480 that lasts half a year talking about this and only 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.680 barely scratch the surface. Anyway. In our previous episode in 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.000 this series, I talked about how the International Space Station 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.480 or I s S formed out of both the struggling 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.600 Russian space program and NASA's attempts to create a US 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:01.040 led space station along with Europe, Japan and the contributing 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.880 toward that, and we learned about some of the modules 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.760 that bake up the space station. We also talked about 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.080 how the construction on the I S S was put 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.760 on hold in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.679 and how the station has two main sections. There's one 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.640 that's the Russian Orbital Segment or R O S and 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.200 the other is the U s Orbital Segment or U 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.120 S O S. Alright, so just a few more modules 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.240 to talk about before we get up to date. So 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:35.280 in NASA sent up a module called Leonardo aboard the 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:41.800 Space Shuttle Discovery. Leonardo is primarily used as a storage module. 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.280 And you might say, well, storage for what, And it's 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.600 pretty much everything from spare parts to rubbish too, you know, waste. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.840 Oh and in case you're wondering if this is the 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.760 only Ninja turtle to be associated with the I S S, 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:00.760 it is not. The Italian Space Agency built through multi 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:05.560 purpose Logistics modules or mp l ms, and they were 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:10.880 named Leonardo, Donna Tello, and Rafaelo. And these were designed 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:15.000 to be pressurized containers that would be nestled in the 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.960 Space Shuttle cargo bay and they would be used to 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.000 transmit you know, cargo like scientific experiments and supplies to 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.840 the I S S. But Leonardo got modified to become 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.760 a permanent storage module attached to the International Space Station 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.840 and the Donna Tello one never launched at all. Rafaello, however, 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.480 was used in the final Shuttle mission to the Space station. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.640 Leonardo originally docked with Unity you know, the node on 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:48.480 the earth facing port, the Nadier Point UH In late 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.200 February two eleven and the crew of the space station 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.760 relocated Leonardo and connected it to the forward facing port 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.640 of Tranquility. Because keep in mind, the space station as modular, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.080 so you can do that. You can undock certain modules 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.480 and redock them elsewhere in order to make room for 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.200 new stuff. Now, at that point, Leonardo also became a 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.400 place where astronauts can go to take you know, sponge baths. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.320 The main toilet facilities for the U S O S 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.840 part of the station are in Tranquility, the Tranquility node, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.600 and now Leonardo is attached to Tranquility, so it kind 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.520 of was expanding their area where they could do, you know, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.359 personal hygiene. So Leonardo went up in the winter of 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:37.000 that summer. In July, NASA retired the space Shuttle program. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.080 The final mission was STS one five that was with 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.680 the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was the one that carried 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.800 rafael O to the I S S and delivered supplies 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.560 and parts up to the space station, and that would 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.360 be the end of the shuttle bringing major components up. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:54.840 But there's still a couple of things we can mention 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.920 before we wrap up on modules. So in the spa 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.080 ACEX unscrewed Dragon space capsule, so in other words, you know, 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:07.400 no people aboard this one. This was called by NASA 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:12.840 a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services UH spacecraft or a COTS 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.279 spacecraft c o t S. It docked with the International 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.000 Space Station. Space X would become an alternative to relying 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.960 solely on the Russians to get materials up to the 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.160 I S S. And I've done several episodes either directly 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.240 about SpaceX or involving SpaceX in the past, so we're 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.600 not going to go down the entire rabbit hole here. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.240 It's it's enough for you know, another series of episodes. 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.599 But the important part is that NASA now was able 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.600 to have an alternative because otherwise they had to rely 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.559 on Russian spacecraft at that point, because NASA no longer 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.760 had the crew spacecraft or launch vehicles that would be 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:54.080 necessary to make trips up to the station. Now that 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.240 wasn't necessarily according to plan. I should add NASA had 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.600 a different space flight program that was in plans UH, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.200 and it was meant to pick up where the Space 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.640 Shuttle program would leave off, plus go a bit further. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.960 This was called the Constellation program, and the program had 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.039 a couple of different important goals. One was to complete 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.839 the construction of the International Space Station, so you know, 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.080 build launch vehicles capable of bringing payloads up to space 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.200 that would help complete the I s S. But another 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.599 was to send a human crew to the Moon by 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.400 and the third was to eventually send human astronauts to Mars. Well, 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.840 you know, that goal should tell you that things did 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.240 not go as planned, because obviously we have not gone 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.440 back to the Moon and um. Anyway, the Constellation program 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.680 included plans for a few different launch vehicles. Uh These 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.440 were the Areas one, which was meant to launch payloads 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.080 mostly into orbit, and then the Arias five, which it 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.520 was a heavy lift launch vehicle design capable of sending 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.760 stuff much further out than just you know, low Earth orbit. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.080 And the journey to this plan in itself was a 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.320 bumby one for reasons that I've talked about in this 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.040 series before. Namely, you know, NASA's big projects are somewhat 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.760 subjected to the whims of whomever happens to be in 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.520 charge at the time, and that changes fairly regularly with 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:20.000 changes in presidential administrations. And that is not great for stability. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.719 NASA is also subject to budgets that are awarded to 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.160 the agency by Congress, and in fact, just the selection 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.479 of the aria's design in itself involves the story of 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.800 different people coming into the picture and tossing out what 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.280 had come before and saying no, no, no, no, no, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.359 let's do it this way instead. Now, in addition to 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.160 to those launch vehicles, NASA planned a new spacecraft that 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.159 could carry crew members up to the I S S. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.960 This would be a capsule style spacecraft, not a shuttle, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.120 but a capsule in some ways similar to the old 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.919 Apollo capsules in the late sixties and early seventies, but 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.839 this wouldn't be larger. It would be able to hold 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:05.360 more crew up to six people in fact, compared to Apollos, 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.200 you know three. And it was called the Crew Exploration Vehicle, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:14.000 and later on it would evolve into the spacecraft called Oriyan. Now, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.440 the Constellation program would end up getting the ACTS under 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:22.080 the administration of President Barack Obama. Obama cited lots of 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.520 issues like the fact that the the program wasn't on 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.960 schedule and it was over budget. Pretty much always happens 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.280 in the space industry. You know, there are a lot 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.680 of political reasons for this, that it was not his 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:40.080 administration that proposed the Constellation program, so there were a 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.680 lot of different factors that led into this, but ultimately 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.560 admit that Constellation was no more. However, the Orion spacecraft 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:52.360 survived that and it still remains part of NASA's Artemus program, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.040 you know, the one that is supposed to take astronauts 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.880 back to the Moon by but probably no earlier than 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.200 at the point. Three Orion spacecraft have been built so far, 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.040 with a planned test flight to happen later this year 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.920 December potentially, though we'll quite possibly see that get pushed 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:16.520 to two. Also, part of that test is to test 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.560 out a new launch vehicle a k a. A new rocket. 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.960 This one is called the Space Launch System or s 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.760 L S now. After the cancelation of Constellation, which is 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:29.920 a fun thing to say, but not a fun thing 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.480 in general, NASA went back to the drawing board and 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.680 began to focus on a super heavy lift launch vehicle. 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.720 This would become the s L S which replaced not 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.400 just the Areas one in Areas five rockets, but it 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.720 also replaced a separate super heavy lift vehicle proposal that 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.760 was called Jupiter. Uh. That one was not technically part 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:56.240 of Constellation, it was part of a separate, parallel program. 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.920 But yeah, that one got the AX too, So SLS 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.400 would effectively replace areas in Jubiter and this, you know, 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.840 all this bit I'm talking about here is a bit 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.040 of a tangent from the Space Station, I realized, but 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.120 I figured it was important to talk about how NASA 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.079 was attempting to close the gap in operations once they 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.000 got to the end of the Space Shuttle program. The 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.920 plan was to have a continuous means of accessing the 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.160 I S S without relying on the Russians, but it 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.360 just didn't work out. There are some critics, including people 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.559 who previously worked on the SLS design, who say that 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.000 NASA is going to have to just accept that the 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.119 future is one in which the agency depends upon commercial 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:45.440 launch vehicles like SpaceX's Falcon heavy rockets and UH and 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.160 to to do that instead of trying to operate their 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.760 own because it's going to be less expensive in the 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.160 long run, and these budget issues are going to continue 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:00.640 to be a barrier for NASA, and that perhaps even 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:06.040 continuing to develop the sl S is um not wise 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.240 in other words, like like it's just you just can't 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.080 fund it so that it doesn't make sense to keep 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.400 doing it. But so far NASA is still on that track. 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.720 And also, I should add that's just what those critics say. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:25.040 I'm not saying that that's definitively the case. I certainly 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.839 can't speak with any level of expertise over whether or 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:33.240 not it makes sense. In the the there were new 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.719 materials being sent up to the space station, including an 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:43.040 experimental inflatable module called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:48.880 BEAM b E a M. Yeah, this is a space module. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.400 On the I S s that it's it's made of fabric, 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.439 it's got a fabric hull, and it's from the Bigelow 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.520 Aerospace Company, which was named after its founder, Robert Bigelow. 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:04.080 He as a multimillionaire sometimes billionaire depending on you know, 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.720 the time, and he made most of his money in 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:10.480 commercial real estate, but he really wanted to create an 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:14.280 aerospace company. He has this, you know, big interest in 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.040 space travel. He also has a big interest in things 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.920 like UFOs. Anyway, the BEAM module is part of Bigelow's 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.679 bigger plan to create an inflatable habitats for various space missions, 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.320 including habitats that could be used on the Moon or 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:33.000 on Mars. Now, the beam module hitched a ride on 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:37.000 a SpaceX capsule or SpaceX launch vehicle, i should say, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:40.440 and it made it into orbit and crews connected it 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.080 to the I S S on a port on the 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:47.000 Tranquility module. Then they tried to inflate it, but they 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.560 found the first time that was taking more pressure to 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.920 do so than they were expecting. Uh, and the module 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.640 was not expanding at the right rate, and they figured 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.480 that maybe the problem was that it had been folded 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.600 up in its compact shape a little longer than was expected. 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.240 There were delays in launch, which meant that this this 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:14.560 uh inflatable habitat was compressed longer than it was intended 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.360 to be. And uh so they tried a second time 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.679 and they got it working, and they later were able 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.880 to pressurize it and reach equilibrium with the internal space 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.600 station pressure, which is right around one atmosphere. And yeah, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.120 astronauts have actually gone into this inflated module and they've 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.480 done work there which blows my mind. I mean, it's 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:40.680 a fabric module, but clearly it's an air tight fabric module, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.520 and lots of tests were done before anyone set foot 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:48.000 figuratively speaking, inside of it. Now. The company has also 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.120 made a mock up of an inflatable space station called 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.640 B three three zero. That's a reference to the fact 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:59.080 that it expands out to allow for an internal volume 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:03.080 of three cubic meters um, and it starts off with 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.959 a volume of fifty cubic meters so it has quite 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:11.280 a bit of expansion. Now. Obviously, an inflatable space station 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.880 would have some really incredible advantages because you could design 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:19.160 much larger modules and not worry about it not fitting 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.000 on a launch vehicle because you know, on Earth you 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.840 could have this as a deflated module, so it's really 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.760 compact and ready to go up in space. Once in space, 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.800 you inflate it just like the beam did and expand 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.760 it out to its full volume in space, and using 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.760 special materials like kevlar, you can create a fabric hull 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.600 that is resistant to stuff like micro meteoroids. You know, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.360 those impacts can be disastrous if you don't have, you know, 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.520 armor against them. They also can be effective to shield 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.320 against stuff like cosmic radiation. The B three three zero 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.880 mock up does have a disadvantage. There are no windows 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.439 in it, because creating a transparent material with the right 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.920 structural integrity that can also be compressed along with this 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.760 fabric habitat is really tricky, and so the mock up 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:14.840 instead has curved displays mounted on the inside walls of 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.400 the space station. So presumably, if you were to have 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.200 a real deployment of one of these in orbit, you 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.840 would mount cameras on the exterior of your space station 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.040 and then feed that camera view into displays that are 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.160 mounted on the interior walls. So you don't have a window, 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.920 you would have a view screen kind of like you know, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.800 the bridge of the Enterprise. Now, while we do not 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.440 yet have inflatable moon habitats or space stations, the beam 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:47.000 module showed that the concept works. Astronauts have tested the 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.480 air quality in the module. They've installed various components inside it. 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.160 Uh NASA says it's monitored a few likely micro meteoroid 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.800 collisions with the whole of the beam module. The whole 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:01.280 has weathered those admirably simil early. It appears to be 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.680 at least as effective as the rest of the station 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.960 with regard to protecting against cosmic radiation, So that's good. 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.400 It was intended to be a relatively short term experiment, 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.120 but it's still up there today and it might remain 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.920 there for the foreseeable future. The I s S crew 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.200 actually accessed Beam as recently as September one. The crew 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.080 had a few things to do with Beam, including prepping 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.680 cargo for a return trip to Earth aboard a future 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.680 cargo Dragon mission from SpaceX, and they also tried but 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:38.320 failed to fix some malfunctioning wireless temperature sensors that were 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.800 part of Beam, but they couldn't get them working now. Sadly, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.600 Bigelow Aerospace may have already seen its last days before 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.240 we could ever get an inflatable space station, at least 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.200 from that company. In the company shut down its production 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:57.360 facilities due to COVID, and Robert Bigelow has subsequently said 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.720 that it is unlikely to reopen. So Beam might be 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:05.160 the first and only Bigelow inflatable space module, But the 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.360 concept has been proven to be at least viable, so 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.880 whether Bigelow comes back and continues that work or someone 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:18.560 else does, um that might be a future space station mainstay. 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.840 In late twenty SpaceX brought an airlock called Bishop up 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.400 to the I S S. It is now attached to 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.240 tranquility and rather than provide astronauts a way to conduct 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:34.840 extra vehicular activities you know spacewalks like other airlocks, this 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.360 one is really meant to allow the crew to deploy 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.760 stuff like small satellites like CubeSats and stuff, and maybe 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:46.200 even rubbish to jettison rubbish in the future. The airlock 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.000 received commercial funding, and you know, it really was a 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.040 necessity because the company that funded it, called nano Rax, 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.880 had this agreement with NASA to use the I S 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.800 S to deploy satellites. But the I S S is 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.440 a pretty busy place and there are a lot of 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.680 different countries using the I S S as a test 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:10.120 bed for numerous experiments, and so the busy schedule meant 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:16.159 that the limited airlocks were already busy with all these experiments. 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.119 So if nano Rex wanted to deploy these satellites, that 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:23.160 really needed another airlock. So they made one and then 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.040 send it up to the I S S. And finally, 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.119 for now, at least we have Naka in a u 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.200 k that's a Russian word that means science. This long 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:37.080 delayed module was supposed to go up before, like way 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.480 back in two thousand seven, but various delays forced that 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.840 date to slip all the way up to this year. 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.840 Those delays included some serious technical issues, such as the 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:53.680 discovery in that the fuel system aboard Knaka had contamination 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.360 in it in the form of metallic dust, and also 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.400 they found leaks in the fuel system, which necess citated 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.719 lengthy repairs. And later still they found more fuel system 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.479 leaks in and that meant more delays. Plus there are 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.840 all those delays due to budgetary and political issues in Russia. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:16.800 But Russia finally launched it on July one. It would 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.199 take the place of the old Piers docking module, the 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.920 p I R S Russian docking module, the one that 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:28.879 was originally opposite the Poisk module so birthed to the 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.560 Vezda module, and that means that components on Naka were 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.960 already pretty old before it ever saw service as part 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.359 of the I S S, which might have contributed to 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.879 a scary situation which we will talk about after this 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:53.480 quick break. So the I S S crew undocked the 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.159 Piers module from the Vesta after a few delays, and 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.680 then the old module would enter it's the orbiting path 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.760 and would eventually re enter the atmosphere and break apart 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:08.320 over the Pacific Ocean. The NAKA module docked in the 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.439 place that Pierce had been, and it did so on 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.920 July using an automatic docking procedure, and all that went, 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.480 you know, fairly well, despite some delays and a couple 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.040 of technical glitches, but nothing critical. But then a few 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.719 hours later NAKA had a software glitch, and that glitch 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.439 gave a direct command to the modules thrusters to fire, 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:33.120 which caused the I S S to rotate like a lot. 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.679 It flipped one and a half times, and effectively it 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.520 ended up upside down over Earth in the process. I 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.639 guess you could say the I S S developed a 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.320 bit of an attitude problem, kind of like a surly teenager. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:53.040 According to Zebulin Scoville, who apart from having an amazing name, 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:59.399 is also a NASA engineer. He was present when this happened. 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.719 Naka is apparently trying to pull away from the station 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.840 that it had just docked with. He didn't know that immediately. 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.159 In fact, when he first saw an alert come in, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.280 it was just a couple of lines, and he thought 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.280 it was perhaps just a sensor error, But then he 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.080 checked the video monitors and saw that the thrusters were 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.080 active and that this was the real deal now. Initially, 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.959 as NASA was getting a handle on what was going on, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.120 the agency reported that the attitude of the I S 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.560 shifted only by about forty five degrees, which is already 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.159 a lot, but it was incorrect. It was more like 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:38.239 five hundred forty degrees. Kind of crazy. NASA engineers had 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:42.840 no control over knockas thrusters. Only Russian ground control had 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.560 the ability to send a direct command to the knock 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.199 A module, and unfortunately, the space station was not in 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:52.080 line of sight with Russia. It would take another hour 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.080 before the I S S could potentially be in communication 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:59.639 range with Russian ground control. So NASA engineers responded by 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.480 working with the I S S crew and using other 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.680 thrusters on the International Space Station, specifically on this Vezda 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:10.280 module and on a progress cargo ship that was docked 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.720 with the I S S. In order to counteract naka's error. 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:16.800 The station needed to flip a hundred eighty degrees to 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.800 get back into the correct attitude, and it took a 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:21.960 lot of work to get it all done. At The 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.960 final orbital correction took place on August twenty one. Remember, 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.040 the initial uh thrust R misfire was at the end 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.680 of July, and fortunately no disaster occurred, but it must 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.639 have been pretty darn tense. Now that being said, Scoville 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.080 asserted that the crew were never really in danger, that 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.879 the situation, while unusual, was not catastrophic, and that the 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.520 process of turning the station back to its normal attitude 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.560 was so gradual that the crew aboard the I S 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:53.400 S couldn't even detect that the station was was turning, 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.119 that it was moving like that. Naka's main purpose is 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.600 to serve as a science lab for the Russians, and 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.760 this is interesting because it's the first Russian module that's 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:07.280 actually really dedicated to scientific experiments beyond stuff like E 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.239 V A S and it just became part of the 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.440 I S S. So, after more than twenty years of 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:17.080 being an orbit, the r OS finally has its primary 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.880 laboratory in place. Uh NACA is also going to serve 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.840 as the docking port for another module in the near future, 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:27.240 assuming everything goes as planned. This is the us Lavoy 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:31.199 Module or Pretty Shell Module. It's scheduled to launch in 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.560 November of this year, and dockwood. Naka's other port you know, 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:39.840 the port that's not connected to the Selvezda and the 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.960 uh OS. Lavoy is also another docking module. This one 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.480 has the ability to dock with up to five other spacecraft, 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:53.200 so it increases the station's docking capacity. One important component 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:57.040 of NAKA came not from Russia but from the European 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.840 Space Agency or e s A. This is the European 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.720 Robotic Arm or e r A. This will be used 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:08.040 to help the docking procedures with Oslavoy once that connects 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:11.119 to NACO later this year. Again, assuming everything goes well, 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:16.400 potentially NAKA and Oslavoy might see some continued use beyond 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.720 the lifespan of the I S S, but I'll talk 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:22.560 about that more towards the end of this episode. Then 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:26.200 we have some other proposed modules that are supposed to 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:29.040 join the I S S in the near future. These 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.320 modules come not from NASA but from a commercial space 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:37.000 company called Axiom Space. So you've no doubt heard many 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:40.440 times in this series. Budget issues are a constant challenge 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.199 with NASA. It's also a big challenge in Russia. The 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:47.920 agency has thus chosen to partner with commercial space companies, 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:51.040 not just to provide transportation to and from the I 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.760 S S, but also to build onto the existing space 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:58.320 station itself. The plan is for Axiom to build and 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:02.479 deploy several modules that will connect to the Harmony node 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.200 aboard the I S S. These include a node module 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.919 so very similar to Harmony and Unity and Tranquility. This 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:12.119 will act as kind of an adapter between the U 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:14.239 S O S part of the space station and the 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:18.320 Axiom Space part of it. Other modules will include one 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:21.680 with large windows to allow for spectacular views of Earth, 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:26.320 a crew habitat module, and a module dedicated to researching 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:31.000 manufacturing processes in space. And like Nauka and us LaVoi, 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:35.280 these Axiom modules could potentially have a life beyond that 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:38.520 of the I S S. Also, Axiom is planning on 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:43.760 sending non astronauts or commercial astronauts up into space, including 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:49.600 a reality TV series winner. I guess because Discovery has 0:24:49.680 --> 0:24:54.080 planned a reality series called Who Wants to Be an Astronaut, 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:56.720 and the winner of that series will go up in 0:24:56.760 --> 0:25:00.560 a future space X Dragon Cruel crew vessel up to 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:03.040 the Axiom section of the I S S. UH. They're 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:05.919 already taking applications for that, so you can check that 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:10.359 out if you're interested. I Uh, I did not apply. Now, 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:13.720 this is not the first time that non astronauts will 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:16.520 have visited the space station. In fact, that has happened 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:19.000 in the past already, only a handful of times, but 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:22.399 it has happened. So to talk about this we have 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:25.360 to dial the clock back quite a bit. Now. It's 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:29.159 the late nineteen nineties and the Soviet Union had collapsed, 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:32.639 the Russia was having trouble funding its space agency, and 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:35.000 it was having a lot of trouble maintaining the Mere 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:40.679 space station. A private company called Mere Core took shape 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:43.360 and took charge of the space station. So this one 0:25:43.400 --> 0:25:46.359 had private funding and was trying to turn Mere into 0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:49.400 a commercial space station instead of a state backed one. 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:52.560 It even flew a mission up there after. Mir had 0:25:52.600 --> 0:25:55.800 already been left unoccupied for several months, and the idea 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:58.560 was that Mere Corps would sell trips to the space 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:01.560 station to wealthy people who wanted to go to space, 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:04.240 and then use some of that money to offset the 0:26:04.359 --> 0:26:09.320 maintenance and operation costs of Mirror uh be. But that 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:12.440 didn't really work out because those costs of operation proved 0:26:12.440 --> 0:26:16.080 to be considerable and there just weren't enough investors jumping 0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:20.000 on board to make this a viable business, so the 0:26:20.000 --> 0:26:22.280 company really had no choice but to allow mir to 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:26.600 de orbit. However, the company had sold a ticket to 0:26:26.640 --> 0:26:30.000 a guy named Dennis Tito to go up to Mirror, 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:33.520 and rather than you know, refund that money, Miracorps was 0:26:33.560 --> 0:26:35.800 able to partner with a company in the United States 0:26:35.800 --> 0:26:39.840 called Space Adventures Limited to secure permission for Tito to 0:26:40.320 --> 0:26:44.320 instead visit the International Space Station if he went up 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:48.440 on a Soyo's Russian space capsule. Now, Tito himself was 0:26:48.520 --> 0:26:51.639 no stranger to the space industry. He had worked for 0:26:51.720 --> 0:26:56.159 the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that's a NASA field center, but 0:26:56.280 --> 0:26:59.000 he also was not a trained astronaut. However, the deal 0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:02.680 meant he could board a Soyo's spacecraft, and in late 0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:05.320 April of two thousand one, he traveled to the I 0:27:05.560 --> 0:27:08.320 S S and became the first person to pay for 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:12.879 a ticket to visit the I S S. And as such, 0:27:12.920 --> 0:27:16.119 he is sometimes referred to as a space tourist. I 0:27:16.160 --> 0:27:19.479 am told that they hate this title. They don't like 0:27:19.560 --> 0:27:22.199 space tourists because a lot of them had to go 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:25.240 through training and had to actually be participants in various 0:27:25.240 --> 0:27:28.240 experiments and stuff, so they were working up there too. 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:31.719 But they're widely referred to as space tourists, and he 0:27:31.760 --> 0:27:34.240 was the first. The reported cost of the trip was 0:27:34.320 --> 0:27:37.480 a whopping twenty million dollars. But you know, the only 0:27:37.480 --> 0:27:39.240 other way to get up there would be to be 0:27:39.280 --> 0:27:43.040 an official astronaut or cosmonaut or maybe be selected as 0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:47.400 a payload specialist, which required a you know, less intense 0:27:47.600 --> 0:27:52.119 training period. So it's a pretty small and elite group 0:27:52.280 --> 0:27:57.040 that he joined. Mark Shuttleworth a South African businessman who 0:27:57.040 --> 0:27:59.919 also has connections to tech and that his company, Canonical, 0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:04.840 is responsible for developing the Ubuntu operating system. Uh he 0:28:05.000 --> 0:28:08.359 followed suit. He also visited the I S S in 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:12.440 two thousand two, also aboard a Soyo's capsule. But then 0:28:12.480 --> 0:28:15.520 in two thousand three we had the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. 0:28:16.040 --> 0:28:18.439 The United States put the entire space Shuttle program on 0:28:18.520 --> 0:28:21.520 hold for more than two years, and at that point, 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:25.640 the Soyo's capsules became the only way up and back 0:28:25.720 --> 0:28:27.879 from the I S S. So Russia thus put a 0:28:27.920 --> 0:28:32.760 hold on space tourism for that time. Since the capsule space, 0:28:33.040 --> 0:28:35.800 you know, the space inside the capsule was critical for 0:28:35.880 --> 0:28:39.520 servicing the I S S. The tourism program came back 0:28:39.560 --> 0:28:42.960 on track in two thousand five with Gregory Olsen, and 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:46.240 then in two thousand six, uh A Neuche and sorry 0:28:46.400 --> 0:28:49.680 went up to become a space tourist. Next up was 0:28:49.920 --> 0:28:53.280 Charles Simoni, who actually went up twice. He went up 0:28:53.280 --> 0:28:55.680 once in two thousand seven, and he did it again 0:28:55.680 --> 0:28:57.959 in two thousand nine, so you must have loved it. 0:28:58.560 --> 0:29:02.440 In between those visits was guy. I actually know someone 0:29:02.480 --> 0:29:06.280 I've talked to several times, Richard Garriott. Now, if you've 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:08.239 been listening to this series from the beginning, you know 0:29:08.360 --> 0:29:11.840 that Richard's father, Owen Garriott, was an astronaut who was 0:29:11.920 --> 0:29:15.800 part of the sky Lab missions. So Owen Garriott had 0:29:15.840 --> 0:29:19.680 been aboard Space Station's back in the seventies. Richard Garriott, 0:29:20.040 --> 0:29:22.920 known to a lot of gamers as Lord British, spent 0:29:23.000 --> 0:29:25.760 a good deal of his personal fortune to visit the 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:29.760 space station, um, you know, without going through the entire 0:29:29.760 --> 0:29:35.000 astronaut process. The seventh and last of the space tourists 0:29:35.040 --> 0:29:40.760 of that era was Guy Lalleberte, who visited the I 0:29:41.000 --> 0:29:43.480 S S in two thousand nine, And this was towards 0:29:43.520 --> 0:29:46.000 the end of the Space Shuttle program, and that meant 0:29:46.000 --> 0:29:48.640 that once again the Saya's capsule would become the only 0:29:48.720 --> 0:29:52.480 way that astronauts and cosmonauts could go to and from 0:29:52.560 --> 0:29:55.240 the I S S. And because of that, Russia once 0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:58.640 again put an end to its space tourism business. So 0:29:58.680 --> 0:30:01.240 for many years that is the end of that. In 0:30:01.320 --> 0:30:04.680 twenty nineteen, NASA announced it would entertain the idea of 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:07.920 tourism to the I S S, using you know, commercial 0:30:08.640 --> 0:30:12.920 UH space companies to take people to and from the 0:30:12.960 --> 0:30:16.719 space station. UH And, as I mentioned, the axiom section 0:30:16.760 --> 0:30:21.320 of the I S S once it becomes reality, will 0:30:21.360 --> 0:30:24.320 include tourism as part of the commercial activities aboard that 0:30:24.360 --> 0:30:26.600 part of the space station. But the vast majority of 0:30:26.680 --> 0:30:30.800 visitors the I S S have either been trained astronauts, cosmonauts, 0:30:30.920 --> 0:30:34.840 or what NASA calls payload specialists. Now, as that name implies, 0:30:35.160 --> 0:30:38.040 the people who fit the category of payload specialists are 0:30:38.200 --> 0:30:42.240 those who have expertise with a specific experiment or a 0:30:42.280 --> 0:30:44.640 piece of equipment that is sent up to the I 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:47.560 S S. They might be employees of some of the 0:30:47.600 --> 0:30:50.920 private companies that NASA contracts with, or they might be 0:30:51.040 --> 0:30:54.760 leading scientists in a specific field. They typically have a 0:30:54.840 --> 0:30:58.280 much shorter stay aboard the I S S than you know, 0:30:58.320 --> 0:31:02.160 other crew members, and they don't have to train quite 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:06.520 as much before they joined the International Space Station. In total, 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:09.719 more than two d forty people have been to the 0:31:09.760 --> 0:31:13.080 I S S since it came online. More than a 0:31:13.120 --> 0:31:16.440 hundred fifty of those came from the United States, so 0:31:16.520 --> 0:31:20.200 the US is in the lead by far. Hack Only 0:31:20.320 --> 0:31:24.400 nine other people from the America continents have been to 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:27.000 the I S S. Eight of them were from Canada 0:31:27.320 --> 0:31:30.400 and one of them was from Brazil. Every other person 0:31:30.560 --> 0:31:33.320 from this part of the world, from the America's both 0:31:33.360 --> 0:31:37.360 north and south, came from the United States. Russia is 0:31:37.400 --> 0:31:40.680 in second place, with fifty people from Russia and going 0:31:40.680 --> 0:31:43.440 to the I S S, and then fewer than twenty 0:31:43.560 --> 0:31:47.200 came from Europe. Some of those folks have actually been 0:31:47.320 --> 0:31:49.760 multiple times. In fact, a lot of them have visited 0:31:49.800 --> 0:31:53.200 the I S S at least twice, not quite as 0:31:53.200 --> 0:31:56.800 many have been three times. A few like Mark Kelly, 0:31:56.920 --> 0:31:59.920 have been there four times, and there are two cause 0:32:00.040 --> 0:32:03.840 minots who have been to the International Space Station five times. 0:32:04.240 --> 0:32:09.000 Those two are Yuri Malenchinko and Fyodor your Chicken. So 0:32:09.200 --> 0:32:14.760 Malanchinko's career was truly astronomical pun intended He visited mir 0:32:14.960 --> 0:32:18.480 as part of the MERE sixteen crew in nine. He 0:32:18.600 --> 0:32:21.560 was part of the STS one oh six Space Shuttle 0:32:21.600 --> 0:32:24.960 Atlantis crew in two thousand, which marked his first visit 0:32:25.040 --> 0:32:27.400 to the I S. S. In two thousand three, he 0:32:27.440 --> 0:32:29.120 went back to the I S. S. And while he 0:32:29.200 --> 0:32:34.560 was there he got married to his fiancee at Katarina Dimitrieva. 0:32:35.320 --> 0:32:37.840 It was a long distance ceremony because she happened to 0:32:37.840 --> 0:32:41.120 be in Texas while he was in orbit. Malanchinko's time 0:32:41.120 --> 0:32:46.440 in space collectively amounts to an astonishing eight hundred twenty 0:32:46.480 --> 0:32:50.200 seven days, with nearly thirty five hours of that time 0:32:50.240 --> 0:32:54.600 being spent in extra vehicular activities or space walks. Now, 0:32:54.640 --> 0:32:58.200 that is incredible, but it's still more than fifty days 0:32:58.440 --> 0:33:03.960 shy of the career wreck that's held by UH Gennedy Padalka, 0:33:04.120 --> 0:33:07.239 And I apologize. I know I'm butchering these names and 0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:11.080 that's on me. But anyway, Padalka has more than eight 0:33:11.320 --> 0:33:14.840 d seventy eight days logged in space in total. UH 0:33:14.920 --> 0:33:17.720 and he's also been to the International Space Station, but 0:33:17.960 --> 0:33:21.240 only four times. Right, he hasn't been the five times 0:33:21.840 --> 0:33:26.640 UH as for Fyodor. He's also had a stellar career also, 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:29.360 pun intended. His time in space amounts to nearly six 0:33:29.760 --> 0:33:33.840 seventy three days total across multiple missions, including some aboard 0:33:34.040 --> 0:33:37.600 Space Shuttle missions, and he racked up more spacewalk hours 0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:42.480 than Malinchiko. He had fifty nine hours of spacewalks. That's incredible. Now, 0:33:42.480 --> 0:33:45.040 when we come back, we'll talk a bit about life 0:33:45.040 --> 0:33:47.520 aboard the I S S and what the future holds 0:33:47.560 --> 0:33:49.800 for the station, and maybe a couple of other bits 0:33:49.800 --> 0:34:00.440 of information. But first let's take this quick break. So 0:34:00.560 --> 0:34:02.880 let's talk about what a typical day would be like 0:34:03.040 --> 0:34:06.520 aboard the International Space Station. First of all, the space 0:34:06.560 --> 0:34:09.600 station climate control keeps the station at about seventy two 0:34:09.600 --> 0:34:13.799 degrees fahrenheit, which is twenty two point to celsius, and 0:34:13.840 --> 0:34:17.719 that's all year round, winter, summer, spring, and fall. The 0:34:17.760 --> 0:34:20.160 atmosphere aboard the I S S is very much like 0:34:20.239 --> 0:34:24.399 that on Earth, and that it's mostly nitrogen around and 0:34:24.440 --> 0:34:29.359 then oxygen at around. A mineral called zeolite acts as 0:34:29.400 --> 0:34:33.400 a carbon dioxide scrubber uh c O two gets trapped 0:34:33.440 --> 0:34:36.600 in poores that are in the zero lite mineral, and 0:34:36.640 --> 0:34:39.319 then you just expose the zeolite to outer space and 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:43.040 all the carbon dioxide gets vented out into space, and 0:34:43.040 --> 0:34:45.120 then you can use the zeolite again, so that keeps 0:34:45.160 --> 0:34:49.520 the station habitable. You also have a water reclamation system 0:34:49.560 --> 0:34:53.080 that can reclaim water from pretty much any waste source 0:34:53.600 --> 0:34:56.200 and then filter it to the point where it becomes 0:34:56.280 --> 0:35:00.400 drinkable water. Again, that includes everything from you know, the 0:35:00.440 --> 0:35:04.760 water vapor you breathe out when you are breathing too, 0:35:05.280 --> 0:35:08.200 the water you pee out when you're peeing, to the 0:35:08.200 --> 0:35:12.680 water that is you know, used for a shower. All 0:35:12.719 --> 0:35:19.200 of the sources of water get reclaimed, filtered, and reused. Okay, 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:22.319 so let's say that you are on the I S S. 0:35:22.360 --> 0:35:25.560 You're in the U s OS segment the United States 0:35:25.680 --> 0:35:29.520 run section for this example. You wake up. We'll talk 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:32.680 more about sleeping quarters in a second, and it's time 0:35:32.719 --> 0:35:35.279 to tend to hygiene. Maybe the first thing you want 0:35:35.280 --> 0:35:37.960 to do is visit the little Astronauts room. In other words, 0:35:38.040 --> 0:35:40.160 you know you want to go to the toilet. Well, 0:35:40.239 --> 0:35:42.799 space toilets are a little bit weird. For one thing, 0:35:42.880 --> 0:35:45.520 they have restraints built into them so that you can 0:35:45.600 --> 0:35:51.080 remain you know, attached to what is effectively the toilet seat. 0:35:51.560 --> 0:35:53.880 After all, your in microgravity, so you need something to 0:35:53.920 --> 0:35:55.479 keep you in place so that you know, you don't 0:35:55.480 --> 0:36:01.120 have stuff floating around you. So the toilet has leg 0:36:01.160 --> 0:36:04.640 restraints and it also has a fan system that creates 0:36:04.680 --> 0:36:08.320 suction to pull waste away. As you go to the bathroom, 0:36:09.080 --> 0:36:13.080 you position your posterior over a hole in the toilet seat. 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:16.480 Some of the astronauts actually prefer to lift the toilet 0:36:16.520 --> 0:36:20.040 seat and position themselves directly over the hole that leads 0:36:20.080 --> 0:36:22.440 down into a bag. So there is a bag set 0:36:22.480 --> 0:36:25.760 down in the waist system. The fan draws the waist 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:28.520 into the bag, and after you're done, you seal the 0:36:28.520 --> 0:36:31.760 bag shut and then you push the sealed bag into 0:36:31.800 --> 0:36:36.120 the waist container that is below the toilet. And then, 0:36:36.239 --> 0:36:38.440 you know, to be nice, you should put a brand 0:36:38.440 --> 0:36:42.440 new bag in place uh in the toilet so that 0:36:42.480 --> 0:36:44.880 the next person to use it doesn't have to, you know, 0:36:45.040 --> 0:36:48.880 prepare it first. And then if for urine, you actually 0:36:48.880 --> 0:36:51.600 have a hose and each astronaut has their own personal 0:36:51.640 --> 0:36:55.600 little urine funnel that they attached to the hose and 0:36:55.680 --> 0:36:59.399 the funnel goes, you know, over the relevant equipment and 0:37:00.040 --> 0:37:03.000 of the astronaut that is, and then you get your 0:37:03.000 --> 0:37:06.799 own little urine funnel. You know, it's a collector's item. Anyway, 0:37:06.840 --> 0:37:10.200 this helps you get the p to go the right 0:37:10.239 --> 0:37:12.799 way into the hose. And again you've got a fan 0:37:12.840 --> 0:37:16.080 system that is sucking that you're in down the hose 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:18.879 into a wastewater tank where then it can go through 0:37:18.920 --> 0:37:23.560 the reclamation system and get filtered and turned back into water. Now, 0:37:23.800 --> 0:37:25.560 let's say that after you do this, you might want 0:37:25.560 --> 0:37:28.560 to take a shower. Well, the Skylab space station had 0:37:28.600 --> 0:37:31.400 an experimental shower in it, but using it was a 0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:33.800 real hassle and it could take more than an hour 0:37:34.360 --> 0:37:37.600 to do it, and so a lot of astronauts aboard 0:37:37.680 --> 0:37:41.239 the Skylab space station chose not to use it. So 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:43.400 the crew aboard the I s S instead of a shower, 0:37:43.719 --> 0:37:47.160 they use a rentless shampoo for their hair, and they 0:37:47.280 --> 0:37:50.360 use a little bit of liquid soap and some water 0:37:50.840 --> 0:37:53.480 to do a simple sort of sponge bath and use 0:37:53.560 --> 0:37:58.080 towels to wipe off the larger globules of water, and 0:37:58.080 --> 0:38:02.439 and air flow system evaporate rates excess water. That also 0:38:02.520 --> 0:38:04.400 makes it really cold when you're done with your shower. 0:38:04.440 --> 0:38:06.640 By the way, it's like when you're sweating and your 0:38:06.680 --> 0:38:09.839 sweat evaporates and it cools you down. Well, the air 0:38:09.880 --> 0:38:12.200 flow system cools you down pretty quickly because the water 0:38:12.280 --> 0:38:15.640 is evaporating off your skin and pulling heat from your body. Well, 0:38:15.640 --> 0:38:19.000 that water then gets collected by the water reclamation system 0:38:19.040 --> 0:38:23.200 to Some crew might also use disposable tallet's as part 0:38:23.239 --> 0:38:26.520 of their hygiene to help, you know, clean themselves, and 0:38:26.560 --> 0:38:29.440 that also means that you have to attend to brushing 0:38:29.440 --> 0:38:33.719 your teeth. Astronauts typically get to take whatever brand of 0:38:33.760 --> 0:38:37.080 toothpaste they prefer, although depending on the time, sometimes they 0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:39.960 just end up sharing a communal toothpaste. So you're kind 0:38:39.960 --> 0:38:42.600 of stuck with whatever happens to be up there. But 0:38:42.640 --> 0:38:45.560 there are no faucets or taps or running water aboard 0:38:45.600 --> 0:38:49.239 the I s S. So two brush your teeth, you 0:38:49.239 --> 0:38:52.600 would get a pouch that would you could fill with water. 0:38:52.800 --> 0:38:57.280 The pouch has a straw extending out from the pouch, 0:38:57.320 --> 0:38:59.759 and the straw has a clamp on it, so you 0:38:59.760 --> 0:39:01.879 would open up the clamp and squeeze out a little 0:39:01.920 --> 0:39:05.160 ball of water. Because again you're in microgravity, so the 0:39:05.160 --> 0:39:07.880 water forms a little ball. You could wet your toothbrush. 0:39:07.920 --> 0:39:11.520 Toothbrush just sucks that water right into the bristles, put 0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:13.799 a little toothpaste on your toothbrush, and then you would 0:39:13.840 --> 0:39:16.160 brush your teeth as normal. But where do you spit 0:39:16.440 --> 0:39:19.640 the toothpaste when you're done, Well, you don't you swallow it? 0:39:20.880 --> 0:39:24.359 Maybe then you want some breakfast, and you would go 0:39:24.600 --> 0:39:27.520 over to the kitchen area of the galley area UH 0:39:27.560 --> 0:39:30.560 in one of the crew habitats, and you would grab 0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:33.040 your food and heat it up. You might do this 0:39:33.160 --> 0:39:35.719 with a pouch of food that you then insert into 0:39:35.719 --> 0:39:39.040 a system that injects hot water into the pouch and 0:39:39.080 --> 0:39:43.560 thus rehydrates otherwise dehydrated food. There's other types of food 0:39:43.560 --> 0:39:46.239 where you don't need to do the rehydration. Instead, you 0:39:46.360 --> 0:39:49.920 use a warmer, a food warmer, a little oven essentially 0:39:50.080 --> 0:39:52.960 that heats the food up. And there's a decent variety 0:39:53.000 --> 0:39:55.920 of food up there, from eggs to waffles to oatmeal. 0:39:56.400 --> 0:39:59.840 Food tends to stick to the utensils you use, and 0:40:00.000 --> 0:40:01.879 because you're in microgravity, you don't have to worry about 0:40:01.880 --> 0:40:04.880 the food falling off of them, so even if you 0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:07.920 turn your spoon upside down, the oatmeal typically stays in 0:40:07.960 --> 0:40:11.880 the spoon. UH. There's also no actual bread because bread 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:14.560 has a tendency to form crumbs, which would float around 0:40:14.560 --> 0:40:16.880 and potentially gum stuff up aboard the I s s. 0:40:17.120 --> 0:40:22.160 So generally speaking, rather than bread, the crew typically uses tortillas. Uh. 0:40:22.320 --> 0:40:24.759 Some foods like fruits can be eaten just as they 0:40:24.760 --> 0:40:26.680 are on Earth, and others, like I said, have to 0:40:26.680 --> 0:40:29.960 have the special preparation. If you need salt or pepper, 0:40:30.320 --> 0:40:33.279 you apply that in liquid form because again you have 0:40:33.320 --> 0:40:37.240 no gravity, so you can't sprinkle a little particles anywhere 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:39.960 that would just float around and get into stuff. So 0:40:40.000 --> 0:40:42.680 salt and pepper come in liquid condiment form, kind of 0:40:42.680 --> 0:40:45.600 like ketchup and mustard, And after eating you would need 0:40:45.640 --> 0:40:48.520 to toss your rubbish away so that doesn't just float around. 0:40:49.360 --> 0:40:51.880 Now you would likely start your work day, so you 0:40:51.920 --> 0:40:55.360 would likely work on one of several active experiments aboard 0:40:55.400 --> 0:40:58.840 the station. Some of these might be controlled from the ground, 0:40:58.880 --> 0:41:01.000 but you might need to endure them to see how 0:41:01.000 --> 0:41:04.920 they're doing. Others might need your active involvement. You might 0:41:04.960 --> 0:41:08.279 also spend some time taking part in medical experiments, all 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:10.560 of which are meant to gather more information about the 0:41:10.560 --> 0:41:13.600 effects of space on the human body, obviously stuff we 0:41:13.640 --> 0:41:16.759 need to know for the future of space travel. You 0:41:16.880 --> 0:41:20.120 might also perform some maintenance tasks aboard the station in 0:41:20.239 --> 0:41:23.240 order to keep it operational and clean. That can include 0:41:23.280 --> 0:41:26.800 stuff like replacing filters or loading up a cargo ship 0:41:26.800 --> 0:41:29.480 with rubbish to offload it from the station, that kind 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:31.640 of thing. In that work day, you would also have 0:41:31.680 --> 0:41:35.480 two and a half hours of exercise scheduled. UH. This 0:41:35.560 --> 0:41:37.920 is needed to counteract the effects of space that can 0:41:38.000 --> 0:41:40.720 lead to stuff like muscle and bone loss. Your body 0:41:40.719 --> 0:41:45.200 would actually reabsorb those tissues in a way. Your body 0:41:45.320 --> 0:41:48.160 is eating your muscle and bone, so you have to 0:41:48.480 --> 0:41:52.439 have exercise to counteract those effects. This exercise includes stuff 0:41:52.520 --> 0:41:56.280 like running on a treadmill, or using an exercise bike, 0:41:56.560 --> 0:41:59.759 or lifting weights. But Jonathan, I hear you say you 0:42:00.000 --> 0:42:03.320 and have gravity to deal with. How does a treadmill 0:42:03.520 --> 0:42:05.719 or weights? How do those work well? With the treadmill, 0:42:05.880 --> 0:42:09.000 you're held in place by essentially bungee cords, like you 0:42:09.040 --> 0:42:13.279 have a harness that holds you down against the treadmill. Uh. 0:42:13.320 --> 0:42:15.520 And the treadmill, at least one of them is on 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:18.960 the wall of one of the modules, and you're typically 0:42:18.960 --> 0:42:21.520 facing earth as you run, which is kind of neat. 0:42:21.920 --> 0:42:26.000 The weights are more like pneumatic systems where you've got 0:42:26.000 --> 0:42:29.080 like a platform and a bar almost like a weight bar, 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:34.360 and you have these pneumatic tubes that end up creating resistance. 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:38.200 So you do various exercises. Some of them are like squats, 0:42:38.280 --> 0:42:41.359 some of them are like curls, uh, And it's all 0:42:41.400 --> 0:42:44.479 in how you're positioning yourself on this platform and using 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:49.040 this bar and using the pneumatic resistance so that you're 0:42:49.040 --> 0:42:52.800 working against that, because obviously weights and micro gravity wouldn't 0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:55.600 mean much. They would have a lot of mass, but 0:42:56.000 --> 0:42:59.640 you know, they wouldn't quote unquote way anything you would 0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:01.879 have moment intem to deal with because you have mass 0:43:01.960 --> 0:43:05.880 and acceleration, but you wouldn't have weight, so resistance is 0:43:05.920 --> 0:43:08.799 more important in that sense. Of course, then you would 0:43:08.840 --> 0:43:11.440 have lunch during the day and at the evening you 0:43:11.440 --> 0:43:13.960 would have dinner. You would also have some free time 0:43:14.200 --> 0:43:18.160 worked into your schedule. NASA learned early on that if 0:43:18.160 --> 0:43:22.319 they did not allow astronauts free time, that their performance 0:43:22.360 --> 0:43:26.760 and morale quickly deteriorated, and free time was absolutely necessary. 0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:28.839 So that gets worked into your schedule so that you're 0:43:28.880 --> 0:43:32.200 not just constantly tending to you know, your hygiene or 0:43:32.280 --> 0:43:36.879 working out or working at an experiment. Okay, we're just 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:39.840 about ready to wrap up on space stations. But before 0:43:39.840 --> 0:43:42.000 we get to that, let's take one more quick break. 0:43:49.680 --> 0:43:51.440 Lots of the crew have said over the years that 0:43:51.480 --> 0:43:53.399 their favorite thing to do in their free time would 0:43:53.400 --> 0:43:56.399 be to look out a window back at Earth and 0:43:56.440 --> 0:43:58.799 the space station orbits are fast enough that crew can 0:43:58.840 --> 0:44:01.839 watch a sunset or unrise every forty five minutes or so, 0:44:02.040 --> 0:44:06.440 which is pretty amazing. Astronauts also get weekends off, though 0:44:06.520 --> 0:44:08.480 you know, they might have to do some maintenance stuff 0:44:08.560 --> 0:44:11.480 here and there on weekends, but otherwise they get to 0:44:11.520 --> 0:44:14.120 be a little leisurely. They can watch movies, they can 0:44:14.160 --> 0:44:17.760 read books, they might play games, they might play with toys, 0:44:17.960 --> 0:44:21.560 they might play pranks on each other. Uh. Apparently they 0:44:21.600 --> 0:44:24.839 occasionally do prank phone calls back down to Earth from 0:44:24.880 --> 0:44:27.960 the space station, which I think is awesome. Uh. And 0:44:28.239 --> 0:44:31.240 they do talk to their families. They get about once 0:44:31.360 --> 0:44:33.880 a week they get a chance to chat with folks 0:44:33.920 --> 0:44:38.440 back on Earth besides the you know, regular communications with 0:44:38.520 --> 0:44:40.680 like ground control. Now, at the end of the day, 0:44:40.680 --> 0:44:43.480 it's time to go to bed, except there aren't actually beds. 0:44:43.520 --> 0:44:46.359 It's more like little sleeping chambers. They kind of look 0:44:46.400 --> 0:44:49.120 like padded phone booths. If you happen to remember what 0:44:49.200 --> 0:44:52.560 phone booths look like. Uh. And inside these booths, there's 0:44:52.600 --> 0:44:56.160 like a sleeping bag tied to the wall. Typically the 0:44:56.160 --> 0:44:59.040 bag has a little arm slits worked into it, so 0:44:59.239 --> 0:45:01.640 you would get into your pj's, you go into your 0:45:01.640 --> 0:45:04.279 sleeping chamber, you know, your phone booth thing, and you 0:45:04.280 --> 0:45:06.440 would climb into your little sleeping bag and zip it 0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:09.760 up and put your arms through the arm slits, and 0:45:09.800 --> 0:45:11.319 like I said, you're tethered to the wall so that 0:45:11.360 --> 0:45:14.400 you don't just bump around as you sleep. The chamber 0:45:14.440 --> 0:45:16.520 also has little doors, so you can close the doors. 0:45:16.560 --> 0:45:20.080 You've got privacy and your little tiny you know phone 0:45:20.120 --> 0:45:23.360 booth of a bed bedroom. Uh, you can have like 0:45:23.400 --> 0:45:26.399 a computer in there, so you could do a little work, 0:45:26.520 --> 0:45:28.720 or you could watch something on the computer if you liked, 0:45:29.440 --> 0:45:31.640 or you could just drift off to sleep, where upon 0:45:31.840 --> 0:45:34.000 your arms would lift up in front of you, kind 0:45:34.000 --> 0:45:37.120 of like your Frankenstein's monster, and you can totally just 0:45:37.239 --> 0:45:40.080 you know, relax, and you don't have to worry about anything, Like, 0:45:40.120 --> 0:45:42.520 you don't need anything to support you because again you're 0:45:42.560 --> 0:45:46.040 in microgravity, so you don't need a pillow, you don't 0:45:46.080 --> 0:45:49.480 need anything like that. You just you're just floating in place, sleeping. 0:45:50.239 --> 0:45:54.879 Crew get eight hours scheduled for sleep on each mission day. Now, 0:45:54.960 --> 0:45:57.960 let's talk about the future of the I S S. 0:45:58.360 --> 0:46:00.759 While Russia has just had no could join the r 0:46:00.800 --> 0:46:04.120 OS section of the station, and there's another module that's 0:46:04.120 --> 0:46:06.520 scheduled to launch before the end of this year. The 0:46:06.600 --> 0:46:10.080 current agreement for the I S S between Russia and 0:46:10.120 --> 0:46:13.280 the other partners, in fact between all the partners expires 0:46:13.320 --> 0:46:17.040 in twenty twenty four. Now, there have been some talks 0:46:17.080 --> 0:46:19.640 from Russia that have indicated that the country is prepared 0:46:19.680 --> 0:46:26.040 to cease participation in the space station upon citing, in 0:46:26.160 --> 0:46:30.280 part sanctions that Americans, you know, the American government has 0:46:30.360 --> 0:46:35.200 leveled against Russia as one of the reasons for that. Subsequently, however, 0:46:35.840 --> 0:46:39.799 Russia has backed off from that kind of rhetoric, so 0:46:39.960 --> 0:46:42.879 the future of the I S S remains uncertain. There's 0:46:42.920 --> 0:46:45.319 also been some concern that some sections of the I 0:46:45.520 --> 0:46:50.120 S S, particularly the original modules, the Russian ones, are 0:46:50.200 --> 0:46:53.760 well beyond their projected lifespan and they're getting a little 0:46:53.760 --> 0:46:58.000 too old to rely upon. Russian engineer Vladimir Solovyov has 0:46:58.040 --> 0:47:01.319 said that around eight of the in flight systems in 0:47:01.320 --> 0:47:04.200 the r OS are at the end of their service period, 0:47:04.280 --> 0:47:07.680 and he has warned that there could be irreparable failures 0:47:07.719 --> 0:47:10.800 to follow now. As I mentioned in the previous episode, 0:47:11.120 --> 0:47:14.279 the oldest modules in the r O S followed a 0:47:14.360 --> 0:47:20.880 Soviet design that directly incorporated equipment into the station structure itself, 0:47:21.239 --> 0:47:24.759 meaning it's impossible to replace those components. They are part 0:47:24.840 --> 0:47:27.080 of the station, so when they break, you have to 0:47:27.120 --> 0:47:30.480 repair them or you gotta do without. You can't replace them. 0:47:30.840 --> 0:47:33.279 The US takes a much different approach. The U S 0:47:33.280 --> 0:47:35.640 takes a if it breaks, we can replace it kind 0:47:35.640 --> 0:47:39.880 of approach. Meanwhile, various parties in the International Agreement are 0:47:39.920 --> 0:47:44.040 hoping to extend the I S S experiment to eight now. 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:46.080 Whether or not the station will make it that far 0:47:46.280 --> 0:47:48.840 remains to be seen, but there are a lot of 0:47:48.880 --> 0:47:50.960 engineers who have said that they believe they can make 0:47:51.000 --> 0:47:56.000 the goal of operating into eight maybe even a little 0:47:56.000 --> 0:47:59.680 bit further, maybe as far as twenty uh maybe even 0:47:59.680 --> 0:48:03.480 more than that. The Axiom modules that are proposed to 0:48:03.680 --> 0:48:06.799 connect to the I S S starting next year could 0:48:06.840 --> 0:48:09.279 potentially separate from the I S S at the end 0:48:09.440 --> 0:48:12.880 of the older space station's service, and then the Axiom 0:48:12.960 --> 0:48:17.600 station could operate as its own standalone commercial space station. Likewise, 0:48:18.080 --> 0:48:21.839 there's been talk that the Knaka module could detach from 0:48:21.880 --> 0:48:25.120 the I S S and reposition to join a new 0:48:25.320 --> 0:48:29.320 Russian space station. The other plans for a Russian Russian 0:48:29.360 --> 0:48:32.480 space stations say that all components would be made specifically 0:48:32.600 --> 0:48:36.480 for that station. That seems to be contradictory. At the 0:48:36.600 --> 0:48:38.680 end of the I S S service, the station will 0:48:38.719 --> 0:48:41.680 be cleared out and then de orbited. It will likely 0:48:41.719 --> 0:48:45.360 be the last US backed space station, with future stations 0:48:45.360 --> 0:48:49.120 being commercial enterprises. The NASA will likely form partnerships with 0:48:49.239 --> 0:48:51.520 so that the agency can make use of the facilities 0:48:51.520 --> 0:48:55.279 for future experiments. And there's one other space station I 0:48:55.280 --> 0:48:57.680 need to quickly mention before we sign off. This year, 0:48:57.800 --> 0:49:01.440 China launched a module called tiaton a h the first 0:49:01.520 --> 0:49:04.600 of three modules for a space station named tian Gong. 0:49:05.560 --> 0:49:09.480 This module is a habitation module a crew habitat module. 0:49:09.800 --> 0:49:12.160 The other two are lab modules, which China plans to 0:49:12.239 --> 0:49:15.960 launch and join to tian Hay next year. One crew 0:49:16.000 --> 0:49:18.880 has already visited tian Hay. They did so earlier this summer. 0:49:19.280 --> 0:49:23.680 Three Chinese astronauts visited briefly and uh, yeah, they prepared 0:49:23.680 --> 0:49:26.399 it for future missions that will build it out as 0:49:26.400 --> 0:49:29.120 a full space station. So we do have another one 0:49:29.200 --> 0:49:33.240 up there, and there's some plans for different commercial ones 0:49:33.280 --> 0:49:37.160 potentially in the future, but obviously I can't really say 0:49:37.239 --> 0:49:39.160 much about them now. They're in the planning stages. And 0:49:39.200 --> 0:49:41.319 as we have learned in this series, if nothing else, 0:49:41.960 --> 0:49:46.320 you can't plan on anything as being absolute. There's always 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:49.840 wiggle room in these things. And that's it. That's it 0:49:49.960 --> 0:49:52.680 for this this round up about space stations. I'm gonna 0:49:52.800 --> 0:49:55.640 move on to different topics. So I hope you've enjoyed 0:49:55.680 --> 0:49:59.920 this series of episodes about the evolution of space station 0:50:00.160 --> 0:50:03.080 over the years. It's really interesting. It's a lot more 0:50:03.120 --> 0:50:08.360 haphazard than I originally thought, Like I just didn't realize 0:50:08.360 --> 0:50:14.040 how delicate the whole process is. Like the station itself 0:50:14.080 --> 0:50:19.200 is incredibly resilient, but the path to getting there was 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:23.880 fraught with challenges. And uh, if you have suggestions for 0:50:23.920 --> 0:50:26.160 topics I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, 0:50:26.280 --> 0:50:28.520 please reach out to me. The best way to do 0:50:28.600 --> 0:50:31.759 that is over on Twitter. The handle we use is 0:50:31.920 --> 0:50:35.120 text stuff h s W and I'll talk to you 0:50:35.160 --> 0:50:46.239 again really soon. Text Stuff is an i heart Radio production. 0:50:46.480 --> 0:50:49.279 For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 0:50:49.400 --> 0:50:52.640 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:50:52.680 --> 0:50:53.600 your favorite shows.