11 Things You Might Not Know About the International Space Station

[Fr8monkey]

From Mental Floss http://mentalfloss.com/article/57240/11-things-you-might-not-know-about-international-space-station

1. It’s fast.

If you’ve seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, you probably imagine things in space to be slow, and to move at the same tempo as the Blue Danube. Not so for the ISS, which is zipping around at 5 miles per second and orbiting the Earth every 92 minutes.

2. It’s slow.

Because of something called time dilation, time moves slower on the International Space Station. Not by muchâ€â€astronauts don’t get there and find out that we suddenly have flying cars and jet packs back on Earthâ€â€but it is measurable. Astronaut Ed Lu, who served on the ISS as science officer for Expedition 7, got curious and attempted to measure time dilation directly, because when you’re on the ISS and are also a genius, that’s just the kind of thing you do. He writes about it here. The upshot is that at the end of his 6 month stay, he was 0.007 seconds younger than those of us stuck on this mudball.

3. It’s big

The thing about space photography is that it’s difficult to work out the scale of celestial objects. For comparison’s sake, for example, if the Earth were the size of a basketball, the Moon would be the size of a tennis ball. (How this worked out by coincidence is probably worthy of a healthy philosophical discussion.) To scale, the distance between your basketball and tennis ball would be 24 feet. There are no sporting equipment comparisons for the Sun; in its occupied space, you could fit 1.3 million Earths. The International Space Station is 357.5 feet (119.167 yards) longâ€â€a hair under the width of a football field, including end zones.

4. It has the same mundane IT issues as we Earthlings.

Computers on the ISS have been infected by viruses more than once. The first reported virus was W32.Gammima.AG, which, according to Symantec, “is a worm that spread by copying itself to removable media. It also steals passwords to various online games.â€Â

5. It runs Linux.

Last year, the ISS dumped Windows and Scientific Linux in favor of Debian 6 for its network of laptops. According to Keith Chuvala, who manages Space Operations Computing for NASA, "We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliableâ€â€one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust, or adapt, we could." To ensure stability, they plan to run one version behind whatever is the latest version of the operating system.

6. It’s busy.

The ISS has a lot more traffic than you might expect. Two days ago, Progress M-21M departed the station. Next week Cygnus CRS Orb-2 is scheduled to arrive (the second Cygnus resupply mission since its successful test docking last year). At present there are three spacecraft docked there: Soyuz TMA-12M, Progress M-23M, and Soyuz TMA-13M. SpaceX has a resupply mission scheduled for August and a new crew will arrive in September. The complete flight schedule can be found here. Every couple of weeks from now through the end of the year, something is slated to arrive or depart, making it more Deep Space Nine than Empok Nor.

7. Astronauts there can smell space.

Mike Hopkins, an astronaut who returned to Earth earlier this year after spending 166 days at the ISS, recently participated in a Reddit AMA. He was asked what surprised him about space, and offered this intriguing answer: “Space has a smell. And I don't mean inside the space station. When a visiting vehicle docks with the space station, there is 'space' between the two vehicles. Once the pressure is equalized and the hatch is opened, you have this metallic ionization-type smell. It's quite unique and very distinct.â€Â

8. You can watch it.

The ISS is the third brightest object in the sky, and can be seen with the naked eye. (It looks like a slow-moving airplane.) NASA has a service called Spot the Station which allows you to sign up for text messages telling you when to look up, and where. (When the crew is on duty, you can watch a live internal video feed of the ISS here.)

To read more, please go to the Mentalfloss article, post truncated due to copyright/fair use concerns.

Edited June 14, 2014 by sal_vager
Guys, in future don't copypasta the whole thing, just in case.

[relin]

It's the third brightest object in the sky... behind the Sun and the Moon. If you've ever seen it, you know it's brighter than Venus by a country mile.

[xcorps]

Nothing in Number 10 makes me happy that we spend billions on the ISS.

In fact, the experiments in number 10 make me happy that Number 11 is on the list.

[vger]

Nothing in Number 10 makes me happy that we spend billions on the ISS.

In fact, the experiments in number 10 make me happy that Number 11 is on the list.

This post: Reason #103857628337843746237423784 that money should not exist.

[xcorps]

This post: Reason #103857628337843746237423784 that money should not exist.

So you'd rather trade a rasher of bacon for a gallon of milk or what?

[deadshot462]

"We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable"

I guess their old Windows XP support expired.

[xenomorph555]

Nothing in Number 10 makes me happy that we spend billions on the ISS.

In fact, the experiments in number 10 make me happy that Number 11 is on the list.

Yes but it makes the people with cancer happy, and people with other diseases, infact it's good for anyone with health problems.

To be honest though, the real reason for the price tag is not the station itself but... the brick, I hate mentioning it but there you go!

[PakledHostage]

#12: It orbits within the outer reaches of the earth's atmosphere. It suffers enough aerodynamic drag that NASA developed night glider mode to minimize orbital decay caused by drag on the solar panels. The panels are oriented in a low drag configuration while the ISS is in the earth's shadow. This reduces the amount of fuel needed to keep the ISS in orbit.

[xcorps]

Yes but it makes the people with cancer happy, and people with other diseases, infact it's good for anyone with health problems.

To be honest though, the real reason for the price tag is not the station itself but... the brick, I hate mentioning it but there you go!

Yeah. Space internet and zero g sperm are GREAT for solving the worlds problems.

[relin]

Yeah. Space internet and zero g sperm are GREAT for solving the worlds problems.

Exactly, because there couldn't POSSIBLY be any real-world applications to those things.

[ScallopPotato]

Yeah. Space internet and zero g sperm are GREAT for solving the worlds problems.

Space sperm is a critical test to determine the feasibility of colonies on other words, and the laser transmitter helps out lots of other space probes and commercial sats too. Space plants is also critical for space colonies.

I'm sure there's even better examples of SCIENCE being done on the station.

[vger]

So you'd rather trade a rasher of bacon for a gallon of milk or what?

I'd rather people stop being greedy <stream of censored words> so humanity can actually make progress.

But since you asked, it might be a step in the right direction. At least governments can't print bacon and make it obsolete. Well, at least until 3D printers get that far.

Edited June 12, 2014 by vger

[Fr8monkey]

At least governments can't print bacon.

Wanna bet? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/bacon-mobius-strip_n_2082341.html

[vger]

Wanna bet? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/bacon-mobius-strip_n_2082341.html

Not edible

[xcorps]

Space sperm is a critical test to determine the feasibility of colonies on other words, and the laser transmitter helps out lots of other space probes and commercial sats too. Space plants is also critical for space colonies.

I'm sure there's even better examples of SCIENCE being done on the station.

Neither of which have anything to do with cancer.

Yeah, there's some really really valuable research being done on renal stones in microgravity.

In fact, most of it is about microgravity. Which is all useless to humanity. It's great for maybe later down the road when we maybe get ANOTHER space station up in the air. But it's useless to me and you.

I'd rather people stop being greedy <stream of censored words> so humanity can actually make progress.

Spending billions on ISS isn't progress. Spend that money on cancer research and you might actually get progress. And I don't really understand your use of the word greedy. It's out of context here. Is English a second or third language for you?

Exactly, because there couldn't POSSIBLY be any real-world applications to those things

Not for the price tag there isn't.

Edited June 12, 2014 by xcorps

[vger]

Spend that money on cancer research and you might actually get progress. And I don't really understand your use of the word greedy. It's out of context here. Is English a second or third language for you?

More has probably already been spent on cancer than the ISS.

Without greed, nobody would be whining about the cost. It's not that complicated to understand.

[xcorps]

Without greed, nobody would be whining about the cost. It's not that complicated to understand.

That's very interesting. I'll be sure to pass on to the starving family I deal with. They're just greedy.

More has probably already been spent on cancer than the ISS

Much to the relief of the millions of people who manage to survive cancer.

[vger]

That's very interesting. I'll be sure to pass on to the starving family I deal with. They're just greedy.

Another thing that doing away with greed would fix. Poverty.

Maybe you wouldn't have farmers getting bribed to NOT grow food, just for the sake of driving prices skyward.

And don't even get me started on medical costs...

[xcorps]

So it's your position that a cure for greed will be found by investing in the ISS?

[vger]

So it's your position that a cure for greed will be found by investing in the ISS?

If that's what you interpreted from this, then English is YOUR second or third language.

[xcorps]

I'm talking about allocation of resources and you're talking about greed. Clearly we aren't communicating.

I say that the ISS (and most other space programs, and every US space program since Apollo) are wasteful. I believe the US should cancel public funding for manned missions beyond 50 miles. I believe the US government should use that funding to make the lives of people here on Earth better, because there is nothing on the Moon or Mars for us except dirt and rocks.

How does that make me greedy?

[vger]

I'm talking about allocation of resources and you're talking about greed. Clearly we aren't communicating.

I say that the ISS (and most other space programs, and every US space program since Apollo) are wasteful. I believe the US should cancel public funding for manned missions beyond 50 miles. I believe the US government should use that funding to make the lives of people here on Earth better, because there is nothing on the Moon or Mars for us except dirt and rocks.

How does that make me greedy?

You saying there really isn't room for both? Compared to many other human pursuits, space already gets almost no funding at all.

[xcorps]

You saying there really isn't room for both? Compared to many other human pursuits, space already gets almost no funding at all.

In my opinion, manned space exploration in this century is as frivolous as Saturday morning cartoons.

[vger]

In my opinion, manned space exploration in this century is as frivolous as Saturday morning cartoons.

Which, also (go figure) gets more funding.

[Northstar1989]

Nothing in Number 10 makes me happy that we spend billions on the ISS.

In fact, the experiments in number 10 make me happy that Number 11 is on the list.

It looks like space shuttle flights might lead to a cure for Diabetes:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/377131/there-might-be-cure-diabetes-thank-nasa-research-deroy-murdock

The cost-savings to the US economy from not having to deal with diabetes alone (roughly $245 billion a year) would pay for the NASA budget (around $20 billion a year most good years) MANY times over... Not to mention the benefits to all the other economies of the world... (a rising tide lifts all boats)

So it's not entirely unrealistic to presume some similarly-important advances might come from the ISS...

The advances in cell-research couldn't have easily been made by a probe, by the way. Cell cultures like this are still best done by humans rather than robots- take it from me, I have a graduate degree in Biology, and have done most of my research in cell biology, with extensive cell-culture experience. I also worked in a lab using some cutting-edge robotics technologies to attempt to automate cell culture- but that didn't work out so well, as the robot was (surprisingly) too prone to contamination of the cells vs. a human...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited June 12, 2014 by Northstar1989