1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Today, we're at NASA Johnson Space Center here in Houston. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Why? 3 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000 To learn about the International Space Station, or the ISS, 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,000 and the people who make it work. 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,000 The ISS is a huge laboratory being built in orbit. 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Scientists on the ground will send their research to the station 7 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,000 to be performed by astronauts from all around the world. 8 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 There are 16 countries participating in the largest 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 and most expensive laboratory ever built in space. 10 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000 By working together rather than competing, 11 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 top scientists from around the world can collaborate 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,000 and share information. 13 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Using the United States Space Shuttle 14 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 and various rockets from other countries, 15 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,000 it will take more than 100 spaceflights 16 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000 to assemble the 100-plus components of the ISS. 17 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 The ISS will be about the size of a football field. 18 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 It will weigh approximately 1 million pounds 19 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 or over 100 adult elephants, 20 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 approximately total the volume of a 747 jumbo jet, 21 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,000 and generate enough power to light up more than 40 average homes. 22 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,000 How will the International Space Station get all that power? 23 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,000 From the sun. 24 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Giant solar arrays will capture the energy from the sun 25 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,000 and convert it to electricity. 26 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,000 We'll learn more about the parts of the space station 27 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 and what they do a little later. 28 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,000 As we witness from the Expedition 1 crew, 29 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000 the first full-time residents on the ISS, 30 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,000 the space station now supports human life. 31 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000 During Expedition 1's five-month space stay, 32 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,000 the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis 33 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 delivered and installed the first U.S. laboratory, DESTINY. 34 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 This lab, built by the Boeing Company 35 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,000 at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 36 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 is the centerpiece for scientific research on the station 37 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 and will support many experiments. 38 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Space station crews will continue to rotate shifts 39 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,000 every four to six months, 40 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 preparing the station for the arrival of more components 41 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 and beginning scientific research. 42 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Why build an International Space Station? 43 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Great question. 44 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 If you'd like to study sound, you'd go to a quiet room. 45 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 If you'd like to study light, you'd go to a dark room. 46 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 And if you'd like to study the effects of gravity, 47 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 you'd want to go into an anti-gravity room. 48 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,000 But since there's no such thing on Earth, we have the ISS. 49 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,000 On board the ISS, a microgravity environment is created. 50 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000 This is where the effects of gravity are reduced 51 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000 compared to those experienced here on Earth. 52 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,000 You see, the ISS is in a continuous state of free fall around the Earth, 53 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 causing the astronauts and objects inside 54 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,000 to appear to float and be weightless. 55 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 You can experience free fall when you jump off a diving board. 56 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,000 You are practically weightless until you hit the water. 57 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 But how does this space station stay in orbit 58 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 if it's falling towards the Earth? 59 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Here's an analogy. 60 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 300 years ago, a great scientist by the name of Sir Isaac Newton 61 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 imagined an experiment in his head. 62 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 He pictured a cannon on top of a very tall mountain. 63 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 When he fired the cannon, the cannonball would soon fall to Earth. 64 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 But if he used a cannon with more power, 65 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 the cannonball would go halfway around the Earth before it landed. 66 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 And if he used a super-duper cannon, 67 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 the cannonball would go so fast that it would fall at the same rate 68 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000 that the Earth's surface is curving away beneath it. 69 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,000 This super-fast cannonball would never hit the Earth. 70 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:13,000 It would be in orbit. 71 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000 And if you were sitting on the cannonball, you would feel weightless. 72 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,000 NASA uses rockets instead of a cannon, 73 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 and the ISS instead of a cannonball. 74 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 By understanding the effects of gravity, 75 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,000 we can learn why things behave the way they do. 76 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Take the human body, for instance. 77 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,000 How does a microgravity environment affect the residents of the ISS? 78 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,000 One of our guests will fill us in. 79 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 The ISS will also give students like you 80 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 first-hand experience with the space program. 81 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Get this, from your own classroom, 82 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 you can talk via amateur radio to the astronauts on board the ISS. 83 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Or learn about Earth from the unique perspective of space with EarthCAM, 84 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 which stands for Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students. 85 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 The EarthCAM has already flown on five shuttle missions 86 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 involving students nationally and internationally. 87 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Visit the EarthCAM website to learn more. 88 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 And don't forget, later in the show, 89 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 you'll be constructing your own model of the ISS. 90 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 But before we do that, 91 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 let's learn about some of the parts that make up the space station.