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Two-year-old space station feels growing pains
By Richard Stenger
(CNN) -- The largest space station has grown by more than 100 tons since the first occupants moved in two years ago, but the sprawling orbiting outpost might never live up to the expectations of its original designers. When two Russians and an American moved in, the international space station had a living space comparable to an efficiency apartment. Since then, repeated visits by U.S. space shuttles and Russian cargo rockets, crammed with equipment and segments, have increased the volume to a three-bedroom house. "Our success in the past two years has been phenomenal. We are blazing a trail in space and on Earth, through research and international cooperation, which can improve lives and expand exploration," said Bill Gerstenmaier, space station program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In mid-November, the sixth crew should bunk down in the station, which has been continuously occupied since November 2, 2000, with each stint lasting about four to six months. But early plans to ramp up the long-term crews from three to seven persons may never materialize. Development impediments and budget crunches have forced NASA to scrap plans to build an emergency escape capsule that could hold seven passengers. The setback has forced the station to rely on Soyuz capsules for emergency lifeboats. Every six months, Russia sends a fresh Soyuz to replace the one docked to the station. But the Soyuz can hold no more than three people, thus limiting the size of the station crews. To make matters worse, the cash-strapped Russian space agency is worried that it may not be able to build more replacements in the coming years.
The agency has been forced to sell station trips to wealthy tourists to recoup costs on the weeklong Soyuz taxi flights. The first, Dennis Tito, flew in April of last year. After his trip, the California investment fund manager said that the residents were too busy keeping the complex operational to conduct much science. Gerstenmaier acknowledged that "we have many challenges ahead," but remained upbeat about the future of the station and its scientific research. "This team's continued hard work and dedication will build a final facility that eclipses even today's station," he said. In November, the space shuttle Endeavour will bring a $390 million truss, one of several girders that will interlock to accommodate a lengthy railroad, which will ferry astronauts and a giant robotic crane from one end of the station to the other. The truss structure, the station's backbone, eventually will support almost an acre of solar panels to provide more power for orbital experiments. Endeavour will also ferry up a replacement station crew and return with the current trio, Russians Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev and American Peggy Whitson. Recently named the first science officer on the station, Whitson grew a batch of soybeans from seed to seed over a 100-day stretch, a first in orbit. Research on the plants could help scientists figure out how to grow crops in space, which could keep space explorers well fed on much longer space trips in the future.
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