Why does the ISS fly in a zigzag pattern in space? International Space Station ISS

Orbit is, first of all, the flight path of the ISS around the Earth. In order for the ISS to fly in a strictly specified orbit, and not fly into deep space or fall back to Earth, a number of factors had to be taken into account such as its speed, the mass of the station, the capabilities of launch vehicles, delivery ships, the capabilities of cosmodromes and, of course, economic factors.

The ISS orbit is a low-Earth orbit, which is located in outer space above the Earth, where the atmosphere is in an extremely rarefied state and the particle density is low to such an extent that it does not provide significant resistance to flight. The ISS orbital altitude is the main flight requirement for the station in order to get rid of the influence of the Earth's atmosphere, especially its dense layers. This is a region of the thermosphere at an altitude of approximately 330-430 km

When calculating the orbit for the ISS, a number of factors were taken into account.

The first and main factor is the impact of radiation on humans, which is significantly increased above 500 km and this can affect the health of astronauts, since their established permissible dose for six months is 0.5 sieverts and should not exceed one sievert in total for all flights.

The second significant argument when calculating the orbit is the ships delivering crews and cargo for the ISS. For example, Soyuz and Progress were certified for flights to an altitude of 460 km. American space shuttle delivery ships could not even fly up to 390 km. and therefore, earlier, when using them, the ISS orbit also did not go beyond these limits of 330-350 km. After the shuttle flights ceased, the orbital altitude began to be raised to minimize atmospheric influences.

Economic parameters are also taken into account. The higher the orbit, the further you fly, the more fuel and therefore less necessary cargo the ships will be able to deliver to the station, which means you will have to fly more often.

The required height is also considered from the point of view of the assigned scientific tasks and experiments. To solve given scientific problems and current research, altitudes up to 420 km are still sufficient.

The problem of space debris, which enters the ISS orbit, poses the most serious danger, also occupies an important place.

As already mentioned, the space station must fly so as not to fall or fly out of its orbit, that is, to move at the first escape velocity, carefully calculated.

An important factor is the calculation of the orbital inclination and the launch point. The ideal economic factor is to launch from the equator clockwise, since the speed of the Earth's rotation is an additional indicator of speed. The next relatively economically cheap indicator is to launch with an inclination equal to the latitude, since less fuel will be required for maneuvers during launch, and the political issue is also taken into account. For example, despite the fact that the Baikonur Cosmodrome is located at a latitude of 46 degrees, the ISS orbit is at an angle of 51.66. Rocket stages launched into a 46-degree orbit could fall into Chinese or Mongolia territory, which usually leads to costly conflicts. When choosing a cosmodrome to launch the ISS into orbit, the international community decided to use the Baikonur Cosmodrome, due to the most suitable launch site and the flight path for such a launch covering most of the continents.

An important parameter of the space orbit is the mass of the object flying along it. But the mass of the ISS often changes due to its updating with new modules and visits by delivery ships, and therefore it was designed to be very mobile and with the ability to vary both in height and in directions with options for turns and maneuvering.

The height of the station is changed several times a year, mainly to create ballistic conditions for the docking of ships visiting it. In addition to the change in the mass of the station, there is a change in the speed of the station due to friction with the remnants of the atmosphere. As a result, mission control centers have to adjust the ISS orbit to the required speed and altitude. The adjustment occurs by turning on the engines of delivery ships and, less often, by turning on the engines of the main base service module "Zvezda", which have boosters. At the right moment, when the engines are additionally turned on, the station’s flight speed is increased to the calculated one. The change in orbit altitude is calculated at the Mission Control Centers and is carried out automatically without the participation of astronauts.

But the maneuverability of the ISS is especially necessary in the event of a possible encounter with space debris. At cosmic speeds, even a small piece of it can be deadly for both the station itself and its crew. Omitting data on the shields for protecting against small debris at the station, we will briefly talk about the ISS maneuvers to avoid collisions with debris and change the orbit. For this purpose, a corridor zone with dimensions 2 km above and plus 2 km below it, as well as 25 km in length and 25 km in width has been created along the ISS flight route, and constant monitoring is being carried out to ensure that space debris does not fall into this zone. This is the so-called protective zone for the ISS. The cleanliness of this area is calculated in advance. US Strategic Command USSTRATCOM at Vandenberg Air Force Base maintains a catalog of space debris. Experts constantly compare the movement of debris with the movement in the orbit of the ISS and make sure that, God forbid, their paths do not cross. More precisely, they calculate the probability of a collision of some piece of debris in the ISS flight zone. If a collision is possible with at least a probability of 1/100,000 or 1/10,000, then 28.5 hours in advance this is reported to NASA (Lyndon Johnson Space Center) to the ISS flight control to the ISS Trajectory Operation Officer (abbreviated as TORO). Here at TORO, monitors monitor the location of the station in time, the spacecraft docking at it, and that the station is safe. Having received a message about a possible collision and coordinates, TORO transfers it to the Russian Korolev Flight Control Center, where ballistics specialists prepare a plan for possible maneuvers to avoid a collision. This is a plan with a new flight route with coordinates and precise sequential maneuver actions to avoid a possible collision with space debris. The created new orbit is re-checked to see if any collisions will occur on the new path again, and if the answer is positive, it is put into operation. Transfer to a new orbit is carried out from Mission Control Centers from Earth in computer mode automatically without the participation of cosmonauts and astronauts.

For this purpose, the station has 4 American Control Moment Gyroscopes installed at the center of mass of the Zvezda module, measuring about a meter and weighing about 300 kg each. These are rotating inertial devices that allow the station to be correctly oriented with high accuracy. They work in concert with Russian attitude control thrusters. In addition to this, Russian and American delivery ships are equipped with boosters that, if necessary, can also be used to move and rotate the station.

In the event that space debris is detected in less than 28.5 hours and there is no time left for calculations and approval of a new orbit, the ISS is given the opportunity to avoid a collision using a pre-compiled standard automatic maneuver for entering a new orbit called PDAM (Predetermined Debris Avoidance Maneuver) . Even if this maneuver is dangerous, that is, it can lead to a new dangerous orbit, then the crew boards the Soyuz spacecraft in advance, always ready and docked to the station, and awaits the collision in complete readiness for evacuation. If necessary, the crew is instantly evacuated. In the entire history of ISS flights, there have been 3 such cases, but thank God they all ended well, without the need for the cosmonauts to evacuate, or, as they say, they did not fall into one case out of 10,000. From the principle of “God takes care,” here more than ever we cannot deviate.

As we already know, the ISS is the most expensive (more than 150 billion dollars) space project of our civilization and is a scientific start to long-distance space flights; people constantly live and work on the ISS. The safety of the station and the people on it are worth much more than the money spent. In this regard, the first place is given to the correctly calculated orbit of the ISS, constant monitoring of its cleanliness and the ability of the ISS to quickly and accurately evade and maneuver when necessary.

Webcam on the International Space Station

Ibuki(Japanese: いぶき Ibuki, Breath) is an Earth remote sensing satellite, the world's first spacecraft whose task is to monitor greenhouse gases. The satellite is also known as The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite, or GOSAT for short. Ibuki is equipped with infrared sensors that determine the density of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. In total, the satellite has seven different scientific instruments. Ibuki was developed by the Japanese space agency JAXA and launched on January 23, 2009 from the Tanegashima Satellite Launch Center. The launch was carried out using a Japanese H-IIA launch vehicle.

Video broadcast life on the space station includes an interior view of the module when the astronauts are on duty. The video is accompanied by live audio of negotiations between the ISS and MCC. Television is only available when the ISS is in contact with the ground via high-speed communications. If the signal is lost, viewers can see a test picture or a graphical map of the world that shows the station's location in orbit in real time. Because the ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, the sun rises or sets every 45 minutes. When the ISS is in darkness, the external cameras may show blackness, but can also show a breathtaking view of the city lights below.

International Space Station, abbr. ISS (English International Space Station, abbr. ISS) is a manned orbital station used as a multi-purpose space research complex. The ISS is a joint international project in which 15 countries participate: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan. The ISS is controlled by: the Russian segment - from Space Flight Control Center in Korolev, the American segment from the Mission Control Center in Houston. There is a daily exchange of information between the Centers.

Communications
The transmission of telemetry and the exchange of scientific data between the station and the Mission Control Center is carried out using radio communication. In addition, radio communications are used during rendezvous and docking operations; they are used for audio and video communication between crew members and with flight control specialists on Earth, as well as relatives and friends of the astronauts. Thus, the ISS is equipped with internal and external multi-purpose communication systems.
The Russian segment of the ISS communicates directly with Earth using the Lyra radio antenna installed on the Zvezda module. "Lira" makes it possible to use the "Luch" satellite data relay system. This system was used to communicate with the Mir station, but it fell into disrepair in the 1990s and is not currently used. To restore the system's functionality, Luch-5A was launched in 2012. At the beginning of 2013, it is planned to install specialized subscriber equipment on the Russian segment of the station, after which it will become one of the main subscribers of the Luch-5A satellite. The launches of 3 more satellites “Luch-5B”, “Luch-5V” and “Luch-4” are also expected.
Another Russian communications system, Voskhod-M, provides telephone communications between the Zvezda, Zarya, Pirs, Poisk modules and the American segment, as well as VHF radio communications with ground control centers using external antennas module "Zvezda".
In the American segment, two separate systems located on the Z1 truss are used for communication in the S-band (audio transmission) and Ku-band (audio, video, data transmission). Radio signals from these systems are transmitted to American geostationary TDRSS satellites, which allows for almost continuous contact with mission control in Houston. Data from Canadarm2, the European Columbus module and the Japanese Kibo module are redirected through these two communication systems, but the American TDRSS data transmission system will eventually be supplemented by the European satellite system (EDRS) and a similar Japanese one. Communication between modules is carried out via an internal digital wireless network.
During spacewalks, astronauts use a UHF VHF transmitter. VHF radio communications are also used during docking or undocking by the Soyuz, Progress, HTV, ATV and Space Shuttle spacecraft (although the shuttles also use S- and Ku-band transmitters via TDRSS). With its help, these spacecraft receive commands from the mission control center or from the ISS crew members. Automatic spacecraft are equipped with their own means of communication. Thus, ATV ships use a specialized Proximity Communication Equipment (PCE) system during rendezvous and docking, the equipment of which is located on the ATV and on the Zvezda module. Communication is carried out through two completely independent S-band radio channels. PCE begins to function, starting from relative ranges of about 30 kilometers, and is turned off after the ATV is docked to the ISS and switches to interaction via the on-board MIL-STD-1553 bus. To accurately determine the relative position of the ATV and the ISS, a laser rangefinder system mounted on the ATV is used, making precise docking with the station possible.
The station is equipped with approximately one hundred ThinkPad laptop computers from IBM and Lenovo, models A31 and T61P. These are ordinary serial computers, which, however, have been modified for use in the ISS conditions, in particular, the connectors and cooling system have been redesigned, the 28 Volt voltage used at the station has been taken into account, and the safety requirements for working in zero gravity have been met. Since January 2010, the station has provided direct Internet access for the American segment. Computers on board the ISS are connected via Wi-Fi to a wireless network and are connected to the Earth at a speed of 3 Mbit/s for downloading and 10 Mbit/s for downloading, which is comparable to a home ADSL connection.

Orbit altitude
The altitude of the ISS orbit is constantly changing. Due to the remnants of the atmosphere, a gradual braking and altitude decrease occur. All incoming ships help raise the altitude using their engines. At one time they limited themselves to compensating for the decline. Recently, the altitude of the orbit has been steadily increasing. February 10, 2011 — The flight altitude of the International Space Station was about 353 kilometers above sea level. On June 15, 2011 it increased by 10.2 kilometers and amounted to 374.7 kilometers. On June 29, 2011, the orbital altitude was 384.7 kilometers. In order to reduce the influence of the atmosphere to a minimum, the station had to be raised to 390-400 km, but American shuttles could not rise to such a height. Therefore, the station was maintained at altitudes of 330-350 km by periodic correction by engines. Due to the end of the shuttle flight program, this restriction has been lifted.

Time zone
The ISS uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is almost exactly equidistant from the times of the two control centers in Houston and Korolev. Every 16 sunrises/sunsets, the station's windows are closed to create the illusion of darkness at night. The team typically wakes up at 7 a.m. (UTC), and the crew typically works about 10 hours every weekday and about five hours every Saturday. During shuttle visits, the ISS crew usually follows Mission Elapsed Time (MET) - the total flight time of the shuttle, which is not tied to a specific time zone, but is calculated solely from the time of launch of the space shuttle. The ISS crew shifts their sleep times in advance before the shuttle arrives and returns to their previous schedule after the shuttle departs.

Atmosphere
The station maintains an atmosphere close to that of Earth. Normal atmospheric pressure on the ISS is 101.3 kilopascals, the same as at sea level on Earth. The atmosphere on the ISS does not coincide with the atmosphere maintained in the shuttles, therefore, after the space shuttle docks, the pressures and composition of the gas mixture on both sides of the airlock are equalized. From approximately 1999 to 2004, NASA existed and developed the IHM (Inflatable Habitation Module) project, which planned to use atmospheric pressure at the station to deploy and create the working volume of an additional habitable module. The body of this module was supposed to be made of Kevlar fabric with a sealed inner shell of gas-tight synthetic rubber. However, in 2005, due to the unsolved nature of most of the problems posed in the project (in particular, the problem of protection from space debris particles), the IHM program was closed.

Microgravity
The gravity of the Earth at the height of the station's orbit is 90% of the gravity at sea level. The state of weightlessness is due to the constant free fall of the ISS, which, according to the equivalence principle, is equivalent to the absence of gravity. The station environment is often described as microgravity, due to four effects:

Braking pressure of the residual atmosphere.

Vibrational accelerations due to the operation of mechanisms and the movement of the station crew.

Orbit correction.

The heterogeneity of the Earth's gravitational field leads to the fact that different parts of the ISS are attracted to the Earth with different strengths.

All these factors create accelerations reaching values ​​of 10-3...10-1 g.

Observing the ISS
The size of the station is sufficient for its observation with the naked eye from the surface of the Earth. The ISS is observed as a fairly bright star, moving quite quickly across the sky approximately from west to east (angular velocity of about 1 degree per second.) Depending on the observation point, the maximum value of its magnitude can take a value from? 4 to 0. European Space the agency, together with the website “www.heavens-above.com”, provides the opportunity for everyone to find out the schedule of ISS flights over a certain populated area of ​​the planet. By going to the website page dedicated to the ISS and entering the name of the city of interest in Latin, you can get the exact time and a graphical representation of the station’s flight path over it for the coming days. The flight schedule can also be viewed at www.amsat.org. The ISS flight path can be seen in real time on the website of the Federal Space Agency. You can also use the Heavensat (or Orbitron) program.

Manned orbital multi-purpose space research complex

The International Space Station (ISS), created to conduct scientific research in space. Construction began in 1998 and is being carried out in cooperation with the aerospace agencies of Russia, the USA, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the European Union, and is scheduled to be completed by 2013. The weight of the station after its completion will be approximately 400 tons. The ISS orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 340 kilometers, making 16 revolutions per day. The station will approximately operate in orbit until 2016-2020.

10 years after the first space flight by Yuri Gagarin, in April 1971, the world's first space orbital station, Salyut-1, was launched into orbit. Long-term manned stations (LOS) were necessary for scientific research. Their creation was a necessary step in preparing future human flights to other planets. During the Salyut program from 1971 to 1986, the USSR had the opportunity to test the main architectural elements of space stations and subsequently use them in the project of a new long-term orbital station - Mir.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a reduction in funding for the space program, so Russia alone could not only build a new orbital station, but also maintain the operation of the Mir station. At that time, the Americans had virtually no experience in creating DOS. In 1993, US Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the Mir-Shuttle space cooperation agreement. The Americans agreed to finance the construction of the last two modules of the Mir station: Spectrum and Priroda. In addition, from 1994 to 1998, the United States made 11 flights to Mir. The agreement also provided for the creation of a joint project - the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the US National Aerospace Agency (NASA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA, which includes 17 participating countries), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) took part in the project. , as well as the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). India and China have expressed interest in participating in the ISS project. On January 28, 1998, a final agreement was signed in Washington to begin construction of the ISS.

The ISS has a modular structure: its different segments were created by the efforts of the countries participating in the project and have their own specific function: research, residential, or used as storage facilities. Some of the modules, such as the American Unity series modules, are jumpers or are used for docking with transport ships. When completed, the ISS will consist of 14 main modules with a total volume of 1000 cubic meters, and a crew of 6 or 7 people will be permanently on board the station.

The weight of the ISS after its completion is planned to be more than 400 tons. The station is roughly the size of a football field. In the starry sky it can be observed with the naked eye - sometimes the station is the brightest celestial body after the Sun and Moon.

The ISS orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 340 kilometers, making 16 revolutions per day. Scientific experiments are carried out on board the station in the following areas:

• Research into new medical methods of therapy and diagnostics and life support in zero gravity conditions
• Research in the field of biology, the functioning of living organisms in outer space under the influence of solar radiation
• Experiments to study the earth's atmosphere, cosmic rays, cosmic dust and dark matter
• Study of the properties of matter, including superconductivity.

The first module of the station, Zarya (weighs 19.323 tons), was launched into orbit by a Proton-K launch vehicle on November 20, 1998. This module was used at the early stage of construction of the station as a source of electricity, also to control orientation in space and maintain temperature conditions. Subsequently, these functions were transferred to other modules, and Zarya began to be used as a warehouse.

The Zvezda module is the main residential module of the station; on board there are life support and station control systems. The Russian transport ships Soyuz and Progress dock with it. The module, with a delay of two years, was launched into orbit by the Proton-K launch vehicle on July 12, 2000 and docked on July 26 with Zarya and the previously launched into orbit by the American docking module Unity-1.

The Pirs docking module (weighs 3,480 tons) was launched into orbit in September 2001 and is used for docking the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, as well as for spacewalks. In November 2009, the Poisk module, almost identical to Pirs, docked with the station.

Russia plans to dock a Multifunctional Laboratory Module (MLM) to the station; when launched in 2012, it should become the station's largest laboratory module, weighing more than 20 tons.

The ISS already has laboratory modules from the USA (Destiny), ESA (Columbus) and Japan (Kibo). They and the main hub segments Harmony, Quest and Unnity were launched into orbit by shuttles.

During the first 10 years of operation, the ISS was visited by more than 200 people from 28 expeditions, which is a record for space stations (only 104 people visited Mir). The ISS was the first example of the commercialization of space flight. Roscosmos, together with the Space Adventures company, sent space tourists into orbit for the first time. In addition, as part of a contract for the purchase of Russian weapons by Malaysia, Roscosmos in 2007 organized the flight of the first Malaysian cosmonaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the ISS.

Among the most serious incidents on the ISS is the landing disaster of the shuttle Columbia ("Columbia", "Columbia") on February 1, 2003. Although Columbia did not dock with the ISS while conducting an independent exploration mission, the disaster led to the grounding of shuttle flights and did not resume until July 2005. This delayed the completion of the station and made the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft the only means of delivering cosmonauts and cargo to the station. In addition, smoke occurred in the Russian segment of the station in 2006, and computer failures were recorded in the Russian and American segments in 2001 and twice in 2007. In the fall of 2007, the station crew was busy repairing a solar panel rupture that occurred during its installation.

According to the agreement, each project participant owns its segments on the ISS. Russia owns the Zvezda and Pirs modules, Japan owns the Kibo module, and ESA owns the Columbus module. The solar panels, which upon completion of the station will generate 110 kilowatts per hour, and the remaining modules belong to NASA.

Completion of construction of the ISS is scheduled for 2013. Thanks to new equipment delivered aboard the ISS by the Endeavor shuttle expedition in November 2008, the station's crew will be increased in 2009 from 3 to 6 people. It was initially planned that the ISS station should operate in orbit until 2010; in 2008, a different date was given - 2016 or 2020. According to experts, the ISS, unlike the Mir station, will not be sunk in the ocean; it is intended to be used as a base for assembling interplanetary spacecraft. Despite the fact that NASA spoke in favor of reducing funding for the station, the head of the agency, Michael Griffin, promised to fulfill all US obligations to complete its construction. However, after the war in South Ossetia, many experts, including Griffin, stated that the cooling of relations between Russia and the United States could lead to Roscosmos ceasing cooperation with NASA and the Americans would lose the opportunity to send expeditions to the station. In 2010, US President Barack Obama announced the end of funding for the Constellation program, which was supposed to replace the shuttles. In July 2011, the Atlantis shuttle made its final flight, after which the Americans had to rely indefinitely on their Russian, European and Japanese counterparts to deliver cargo and astronauts to the station. In May 2012, the Dragon spacecraft, owned by the private American company SpaceX, docked with the ISS for the first time.

Selecting some orbital parameters for the International Space Station. For example, a station can be located at an altitude of 280 to 460 kilometers, and because of this, it is constantly experiencing the inhibiting influence of the upper layers of the atmosphere of our planet. Every day, the ISS loses approximately 5 cm/s in speed and 100 meters in altitude. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically raise the station, burning the fuel of ATV and Progress trucks. Why can't the station be raised higher to avoid these costs?

The range assumed during the design and the current real position are dictated by several reasons. Every day astronauts and cosmonauts, and beyond the 500 km mark its level rises sharply. And the limit for a six-month stay is set at only half a sievert; only a sievert is allotted for the entire career. Each sievert increases the risk of cancer by 5.5 percent.

On Earth, we are protected from cosmic rays by the radiation belt of our planet’s magnetosphere and atmosphere, but they work weaker in near space. In some parts of the orbit (the South Atlantic Anomaly is such a spot of increased radiation) and beyond it, strange effects can sometimes appear: flashes appear in closed eyes. These are cosmic particles passing through the eyeballs; other interpretations claim that the particles excite the parts of the brain responsible for vision. This can not only interfere with sleep, but also once again unpleasantly reminds us of the high level of radiation on the ISS.

In addition, Soyuz and Progress, which are now the main crew change and supply ships, are certified to operate at altitudes of up to 460 km. The higher the ISS is, the less cargo can be delivered. The rockets that send new modules for the station will also be able to bring less. On the other hand, the lower the ISS, the more it decelerates, that is, more of the delivered cargo must be fuel for subsequent orbit correction.

Scientific tasks can be carried out at an altitude of 400-460 kilometers. Finally, the position of the station is affected by space debris - failed satellites and their debris, which have enormous speed relative to the ISS, which makes a collision with them fatal.

There are resources on the Internet that allow you to monitor the orbital parameters of the International Space Station. You can obtain relatively accurate current data, or track their dynamics. At the time of writing this text, the ISS was at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers.

The ISS can be accelerated by elements located at the rear of the station: these are Progress trucks (most often) and ATVs, and, if necessary, the Zvezda service module (extremely rare). In the illustration before the kata, a European ATV is running. The station is raised often and little by little: corrections occur approximately once a month in small portions of about 900 seconds of engine operation; Progress uses smaller engines so as not to greatly influence the course of the experiments.

The engines can be turned on once, thus increasing the flight altitude on the other side of the planet. Such operations are used for small ascents, since the eccentricity of the orbit changes.

A correction with two activations is also possible, in which the second activation smoothes the station’s orbit to a circle.

Some parameters are dictated not only by scientific data, but also by politics. It is possible to give the spacecraft any orientation, but during launch it will be more economical to use the speed provided by the rotation of the Earth. Thus, it is cheaper to launch the vehicle into an orbit with an inclination equal to the latitude, and maneuvers will require additional fuel consumption: more for movement towards the equator, less for movement towards the poles. The ISS's orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees may seem strange: NASA vehicles launched from Cape Canaveral traditionally have an inclination of about 28 degrees.

When the location of the future ISS station was discussed, it was decided that it would be more economical to give preference to the Russian side. Also, such orbital parameters allow you to see more of the Earth's surface.

But Baikonur is at a latitude of approximately 46 degrees, so why is it then common for Russian launches to have an inclination of 51.6°? The fact is that there is a neighbor to the east who will not be too happy if something falls on him. Therefore, the orbit is tilted to 51.6° so that during launch no parts of the spacecraft could under any circumstances fall into China and Mongolia.

Online monitoring of the Earth's surface and the Station itself from ISS web cameras. Atmospheric phenomena, ship dockings, spacewalks, work within the American segment - all in real time. ISS parameters, flight path and location on the world map.

On the Roscosmos video player now:
Pressure equalization, opening of hatches, meeting of crews after docking of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft with the ISS on March 15, 2019.

Broadcast from ISS webcams

NASA video players No. 1 and No. 2 broadcast images from the ISS web cameras online with short interruptions.

NASA Video Player #1

NASA Video Player #2

Map showing the ISS orbit

Video player NASA TV

Important events on the ISS online: dockings and undockings, crew changes, spacewalks, video conferences with Earth. Scientific programs in English. Broadcasting recordings from ISS cameras.

Roscosmos video player

Pressure equalization, opening hatches, crew meeting after docking of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft with the ISS on March 15, 2019.

Description of video players

NASA Video Player #1
Broadcast online without sound with short breaks. Broadcast recordings were observed very rarely.

NASA Video Player #2
Broadcast online, sometimes with sound, with short breaks. The broadcast of the recording was not observed.

Video player NASA TV
Broadcasting recordings of scientific programs in English and videos from ISS cameras, as well as some important events on the ISS online: spacewalks, video conferences with the Earth in the language of the participants.

Roscosmos video player
Interesting offline videos, as well as significant events related to the ISS, sometimes broadcast online by Roscosmos: spacecraft launches, dockings and undockings, spacewalks, crew returns to Earth.

Features of broadcasting from ISS web cameras

The online broadcast from the International Space Station is carried out from several web cameras installed inside the American segment and outside the Station. The sound channel is rarely connected on ordinary days, but always accompanies such important events as dockings with transport ships and ships with a replacement crew, spacewalks, and scientific experiments.

The direction of web cameras on the ISS changes periodically, as does the quality of the transmitted image, which can change over time even when broadcast from the same web camera. During work in outer space, images are often transmitted from cameras installed on astronauts' spacesuits.

Standard or gray splash screen on the screen of NASA Video Player No. 1 and standard or blue The screen saver on the screen of NASA Video Player No. 2 indicates a temporary termination of video communication between the Station and the Earth, audio communication can continue. Black screen- ISS flight over the night zone.

Sound accompaniment rarely connects, usually on NASA Video Player No. 2. Sometimes they play a recording- this can be seen from the discrepancy between the transmitted image and the position of the Station on the map and the display of the current and full time of the broadcast video on the progress bar. A progress bar appears to the right of the speaker icon when you hover over the video player screen.

No progress bar- means the video from the current ISS webcam is broadcast online. See Black screen? - check with !

When NASA video players freeze, it usually helps to simply page update.

Location, trajectory and parameters of the ISS

The current position of the International Space Station on the map is indicated by the ISS symbol.

In the upper left corner of the map the current parameters of the Station are displayed - coordinates, orbit altitude, speed of movement, time until sunrise or sunset.

Symbols for MKS parameters (default units):

• Lat: latitude in degrees;
• Lng: longitude in degrees;
• Alt: altitude in kilometers;
• V: speed in km/h;
• Time before sunrise or sunset at the Station (on Earth, see the chiaroscuro limit on the map).

The speed in km/h is, of course, impressive, but its value in km/s is more obvious. To change the ISS speed unit, click on the gears in the upper left corner of the map. In the window that opens, on the panel at the top, click on the icon with one gear and in the list of parameters instead km/h select km/s. Here you can also change other map parameters.

In total, on the map we see three conventional lines, on one of which there is an icon of the current position of the ISS - this is the current trajectory of the Station. The other two lines indicate the next two orbits of the ISS, over the points of which, located at the same longitude with the current position of the Station, the ISS will fly over, respectively, in 90 and 180 minutes.

The map scale is changed using the buttons «+» And «-» in the upper left corner or by normal scrolling when the cursor is located on the map surface.

What can be seen through the ISS webcams

The American space agency NASA broadcasts online from ISS webcams. Often the image is transmitted from cameras aimed at the Earth, and during the flight of the ISS over the daytime zone one can observe clouds, cyclones, anticyclones, and in clear weather the earth's surface, the surface of the seas and oceans. Landscape details can be clearly seen when the broadcast webcam is pointed vertically at the Earth, but sometimes it can be clearly seen when it is aimed at the horizon.

When the ISS flies over the continents in clear weather, river beds, lakes, snow caps on mountain ranges, and the sandy surface of deserts are clearly visible. Islands in the seas and oceans are easier to observe only in the most cloudless weather, since from the height of the ISS they look little different from clouds. It is much easier to detect and observe rings of atolls on the surface of the world's oceans, which are clearly visible in light clouds.

When one of the video players broadcasts an image from a NASA webcam aimed vertically at the Earth, pay attention to how the broadcast image moves in relation to the satellite on the map. This will make it easier to catch individual objects for observation: islands, lakes, river beds, mountain ranges, straits.

Sometimes the image is transmitted online from web cameras directed inside the Station, then we can observe the American segment of the ISS and the actions of the astronauts in real time.

When some events occur at the Station, for example, dockings with transport ships or ships with a replacement crew, spacewalks, broadcasts from the ISS are carried out with audio connected. At this time, we can hear conversations between the Station crew members among themselves, with the Mission Control Center or with the replacement crew on the ship approaching for docking.

You can learn about upcoming events on the ISS from media reports. In addition, some scientific experiments conducted on the ISS can be broadcast online using webcams.

Unfortunately, webcams are installed only in the American segment of the ISS, and we can only observe American astronauts and the experiments they conduct. But when the sound is turned on, Russian speech is often heard.

To enable sound playback, move the cursor over the player window and left-click on the image of the speaker with a cross that appears. The audio will be connected at the default volume level. To increase or decrease the volume of the sound, raise or lower the volume bar to the desired level.

Sometimes, the sound is turned on for a short time and for no reason. Audio transmission can also be enabled when blue screen, while video communication with the Earth was turned off.

If you spend a lot of time on the computer, leave the tab open with the sound turned on on NASA video players, and look at it occasionally to see the sunrise and sunset when it is dark on the ground, and parts of the ISS, if they are in the frame, are illuminated by the rising or setting sun . The sound will make itself known. If the video broadcast freezes, refresh the page.

The ISS completes a full revolution around the Earth in 90 minutes, crossing the planet's night and day zones once. Where the Station is currently located, see the orbit map above.

What can you see above the Earth's night zone? Sometimes lightning flashes during a thunderstorm. If the webcam is aimed at the horizon, the brightest stars and the Moon are visible.

Through a webcam from the ISS it is impossible to see the lights of night cities, because the distance from the Station to the Earth is more than 400 kilometers, and without special optics no lights can be seen, except for the brightest stars, but this is no longer on Earth.

Observe the International Space Station from Earth. Watch interesting ones made from NASA video players presented here.

In between observing the Earth's surface from space, try catching or spreading (quite difficult).