Hello, if you have questions about the International Space Station and how it functions, we will try to answer them.

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Today you will learn about such an interesting NASA project as the ISS online web camera in HD quality. As you already understand, this webcam works live and video is sent to the network directly from the international space station. On the screen above you can look at the astronauts and a picture of space.

The ISS webcam is installed on the station's shell and broadcasts online video around the clock.

I would like to remind you that the most ambitious object in space created by us is the International Space Station. Its location can be observed on tracking, which displays its real position above the surface of our planet. The orbit is displayed in real time on your computer; literally 5-10 years ago this would have been unimaginable.

The dimensions of the ISS are amazing: length - 51 meters, width - 109 meters, height - 20 meters, and weight - 417.3 tons. The weight changes depending on whether the SOYUZ is docked to it or not, I want to remind you that the Space Shuttle space shuttles no longer fly, their program has been curtailed, and the USA uses our SOYUZs.

Station structure

Animation of the construction process from 1999 to 2010.

The station is built on a modular structure: various segments were designed and created by the efforts of the participating countries. Each module has its own specific function: for example, research, residential, or adapted for storage.

3D model of the station

3D construction animation

As an example, let's take the American Unity modules, which are jumpers and also serve for docking with ships. At the moment, the station consists of 14 main modules. Their total volume is 1000 cubic meters, and their weight is about 417 tons; a crew of 6 or 7 people can always be on board.

The station was assembled by sequentially docking the next block or module to the existing complex, which is connected to those already operating in orbit.

If we take information for 2013, then the station includes 14 main modules, of which the Russian ones are Poisk, Rassvet, Zarya, Zvezda and Piers. American segments - Unity, Domes, Leonardo, Tranquility, Destiny, Quest and Harmony, European - Columbus and Japanese - Kibo.

This diagram shows all the major, as well as minor modules that are part of the station (shaded), and those planned for delivery in the future - not shaded.

The distance from Earth to the ISS ranges from 413-429 km. Periodically, the station is “raised” due to the fact that it is slowly decreasing, due to friction with the remnants of the atmosphere. At what altitude it is also depends on other factors, such as space debris.

Earth, bright spots - lightning

The recent blockbuster “Gravity” clearly (albeit slightly exaggeratedly) showed what can happen in orbit if space debris flies in close proximity. Also, the altitude of the orbit depends on the influence of the Sun and other less significant factors.

There is a special service that ensures that the ISS flight altitude is as safe as possible and that nothing threatens the astronauts.

There have been cases when, due to space debris, it was necessary to change the trajectory, so its height also depends on factors beyond our control. The trajectory is clearly visible on the graphs; it is noticeable how the station crosses seas and continents, flying literally over our heads.

Orbital speed

Spaceships of the SOYUZ series against the backdrop of the Earth, filmed with long exposure

If you find out how fast the ISS flies, you will be horrified; these are truly gigantic numbers for the Earth. Its speed in orbit is 27,700 km/h. To be precise, the speed is more than 100 times faster than a standard production car. It takes 92 minutes to complete one revolution. Astronauts experience 16 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hours. The position is monitored in real time by specialists from the Mission Control Center and the flight control center in Houston. If you are watching the broadcast, please note that the ISS space station periodically flies into the shadow of our planet, so there may be interruptions in the picture.

Statistics and interesting facts

If we take the first 10 years of the station’s operation, then in total about 200 people visited it as part of 28 expeditions, this figure is an absolute record for space stations (our Mir station was visited by “only” 104 people before that). In addition to holding records, the station became the first successful example of the commercialization of space flight. The Russian space agency Roscosmos, together with the American company Space Adventures, delivered space tourists into orbit for the first time.

In total, 8 tourists visited space, for whom each flight cost from 20 to 30 million dollars, which in general is not so expensive.

According to the most conservative estimates, the number of people who can go on a real space journey is in the thousands.

In the future, with mass launches, the cost of the flight will decrease, and the number of applicants will increase. Already in 2014, private companies are offering a worthy alternative to such flights - a suborbital shuttle, a flight on which will cost much less, the requirements for tourists are not as stringent, and the cost is more affordable. From the altitude of suborbital flight (about 100-140 km), our planet will appear to future travelers as an amazing cosmic miracle.

Live broadcast is one of the few interactive astronomical events that we see not recorded, which is very convenient. Remember that the online station is not always available; technical interruptions are possible when flying through the shadow zone. It is best to watch video from the ISS from a camera that is aimed at Earth, when you still have the opportunity to view our planet from orbit.

The Earth from orbit looks truly amazing; not only continents, seas, and cities are visible. Also presented to your attention are auroras and huge hurricanes, which look truly fantastic from space.

To give you some idea of ​​what the Earth looks like from the ISS, watch the video below.

This video shows a view of the Earth from space and was created from time-lapse photographs of astronauts. Very high quality video, watch only in 720p quality and with sound. One of the best videos, assembled from images from orbit.

The real-time webcam shows not only what is behind the skin, we can also watch the astronauts at work, for example, unloading the Soyuz or docking them. Live broadcasts can sometimes be interrupted when the channel is overloaded or there are problems with signal transmission, for example, in relay areas. Therefore, if the broadcast is impossible, then a static NASA splash screen or “blue screen” is shown on the screen.

The station in the moonlight, SOYUZ ships are visible against the background of the Orion constellation and auroras

However, take a moment to look at the view from the ISS online. When the crew is resting, users of the global Internet can watch an online broadcast of the starry sky from the ISS through the eyes of the astronauts - from a height of 420 km above the planet.

Crew work schedule

To calculate when astronauts are asleep or awake, you need to remember that space uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which in winter lags behind Moscow time by three hours, and in summer by four hours, and accordingly the camera on the ISS shows the same time.

Astronauts (or cosmonauts, depending on the crew) are given eight and a half hours to sleep. The rise usually begins at 6.00, and the end at 21.30. There are mandatory morning reports to Earth, which begin at approximately 7.30 - 7.50 (this is on the American segment), at 7.50 - 8.00 (in Russian), and in the evening from 18.30 to 19.00. The astronauts' reports can be heard if the web camera is currently broadcasting this particular communication channel. Sometimes you can hear the broadcast in Russian.

Remember that you are listening and watching a NASA service channel that was originally intended only for specialists. Everything changed on the eve of the station’s 10th anniversary, and the online camera on the ISS became public. And, so far, the International Space Station is online.

Docking with spacecraft

The most exciting moments broadcast by the web camera occur when our Soyuz, Progress, Japanese and European cargo spaceships dock, and in addition, cosmonauts and astronauts go into outer space.

A small nuisance is that the channel load at this moment is enormous, hundreds and thousands of people are watching the video from the ISS, the load on the channel increases, and the live broadcast may be intermittent. This spectacle can sometimes be truly fantastically exciting!

Flight over the surface of the planet

By the way, if we take into account the regions of flight, as well as the intervals at which the station is in areas of shadow or light, we can plan our own viewing of the broadcast using the graphical diagram at the top of this page.

But if you can only devote a certain amount of time to viewing, remember that the webcam is online all the time, so you can always enjoy the cosmic landscapes. However, it is better to watch it while the astronauts are working or the spacecraft is docking.

Incidents that happened during work

Despite all the precautions at the station, and with the ships that served it, unpleasant situations occurred; the most serious incident was the Columbia shuttle disaster that occurred on February 1, 2003. Although the shuttle did not dock with the station and was conducting its own mission, this tragedy led to all subsequent space shuttle flights being banned, a ban that was only lifted in July 2005. Because of this, the completion time for construction increased, since only the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft could fly to the station, which became the only means of delivering people and various cargo into orbit.

Also, in 2006, there was a small amount of smoke in the Russian segment, computer failures occurred in 2001 and twice in 2007. The fall of 2007 turned out to be the most troublesome for the crew, because... I had to fix a solar battery that broke during installation.

International Space Station (photos taken by astro enthusiasts)

Using the data on this page, finding out where the ISS is now is not difficult. The station looks quite bright from Earth, so that it can be seen with the naked eye as a star that is moving, and quite quickly, from west to east.

The station was shot with a long exposure

Some astronomy enthusiasts even manage to get photos of the ISS from Earth.

These pictures look quite high quality; you can even see docked ships on them, and if astronauts go into outer space, then their figures.

If you are planning to observe it through a telescope, then remember that it moves quite quickly, and it is better if you have a go-to guidance system that allows you to guide the object without losing sight of it.

Where the station is flying now can be seen in the graph above

If you don’t know how to see it from Earth or you don’t have a telescope, the solution is video broadcast for free and around the clock!

Information provided by the European Space Agency

Using this interactive scheme, the observation of the station's passage can be calculated. If the weather cooperates and there are no clouds, then you will be able to see for yourself the charming glide, a station that is the pinnacle of the progress of our civilization.

You just need to remember that the station’s orbital inclination angle is approximately 51 degrees; it flies over cities such as Voronezh, Saratov, Kursk, Orenburg, Astana, Komsomolsk-on-Amur). The further north you live from this line, the worse the conditions for seeing it with your own eyes will be or even impossible. In fact, you can only see it above the horizon in the southern part of the sky.

If we take the latitude of Moscow, then the best time to observe it is a trajectory that will be slightly above 40 degrees above the horizon, this is after sunset and before sunrise.

> > > Orbit of the Moon

Moon orbit– rotation of the satellite around the Earth. Study apogee, perigee and eccentricity, distance to the planet, lunar cycles and phases with photos and how the orbit will change.

People have always looked with delight at the neighboring satellite, which seems something divine due to its brightness. The moon rotates in orbit around the Earth since its creation, so the first people also observed it. Curiosity and evolution led to computing and our ability to notice patterns of behavior.

For example, the axis of rotation of the Moon coincides with the orbital one. Essentially, the satellite is located in a gravitational block, that is, we always look at one side (this is how the idea of ​​​​the mysterious far side of the Moon arose). Due to its elliptical path, the celestial body periodically appears larger or smaller.

Orbital parameters of the Moon

The average lunar eccentricity is 0.0549, which means the Moon does not orbit the Earth in a perfect circle. The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,748 km. But it can vary from 364397 km to 406748 km.

This leads to a change in angular velocity and observed size. In the full Moon phase and at the perihelion position (closest), we see it 10% larger and 30% brighter than at apogee (maximum distance).

The average inclination of the orbit relative to the ecliptic plane is 5.155°. The sidereal and axial periods coincide - 27.3 days. This is called synchronous rotation. That is why a “dark side” has appeared that we simply do not see.

The Earth also orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits the Earth in 29.53 days. This is a synodic period that undergoes phases.

Lunar orbit cycle

The lunar cycle gives rise to the phases of the Moon - an apparent change in the appearance of a celestial body in the sky due to changes in the amount of illumination. When the star, planet and satellite line up, the angle between the Moon and the Sun is 0 degrees.

During this period, the lunar side turned towards the Sun receives the maximum rays, and the side facing us is dark. Next comes the passage and the angle increases. After the New Moon, objects are separated by 90 degrees, and we already see a different picture. In the diagram below you can study in detail how the lunar phases are formed.

If they are located in opposite directions, then the angle is 180 degrees. The lunar month lasts 28 days, during which the satellite “grows” and “wanes.”

At a quarter, the Moon is less than half full and growing. Next comes the transition beyond half, and it fades away. We meet the last quarter, where the other side of the disk is already illuminated.

The future of lunar orbit

We already know that the satellite is gradually moving away in orbit from the planet (1-2 cm per year). And this affects the fact that with each century our day becomes 1/500th of a second longer. That is, approximately 620 million years ago, the Earth could boast of only 21 hours.

Now the day covers 24 hours, but the Moon does not stop trying to escape. We are used to having a companion and it is sad to lose such a partner. But the relationships between objects change. I just wonder how this will affect us.

Lunar station Deep Space Gateway (left). Render: NASA

NASA representatives announced details of the Deep Space Gateway space program, which will be a preparatory stage for the Mars mission. The program will explore cislunar space, where astronauts must build and test systems before traveling into deep space, including to Mars. Robotic missions with descent to the lunar surface will also be tested here. Astronauts from cislunar space will be able to return home within a few days if a problem arises. It takes much longer for them to get from Martian orbit, so NASA prefers to first conduct tests at a closer distance - near the Moon.

The exploration of cislunar space will begin with the first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle with the Orion spacecraft. The three-week exploration mission is called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). It will be unmanned. Nevertheless, this mission should be a remarkable event for astronautics, since it will be the first time in history that a spacecraft designed for humans will fly so far from Earth.

Orion spacecraft. Render: NASA

The launch of the SLS with the Orion spacecraft will take place from launch complex 39B at the cosmodrome of the Space Center. Kennedy, presumably at the end of 2018. Once in orbit, Orion will deploy its solar panels and head toward the Moon. The spacecraft will be propelled by the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), which is located on the SLS launch vehicle directly below the Orion spacecraft as the rocket's upper stage.

Intermediate cryogenic propulsion system. Render: NASA

The journey to the moon will take several days. Upon completion, Orion will undock from ICPS, and the latter, in turn, will release several CubeSat mini-satellites into space. Together with the spacecraft, the SLS rocket is capable of lifting into orbit 11 mini-satellites, each 6 units in size.

It is assumed that one of the satellites in cislunar space will be BioSentinel, which for the first time in the last 40 years will carry an terrestrial life form into deep space. The goal of the BioSentinel science program is to study the effects of cosmic radiation on living cells during the 18 months of satellite operation.

NASA plans to get into a rhythm and make one launch per year in the 2020s. The first manned flight is scheduled for August 2021.

The plan for this flight is based on the translunar injection (TLI) profile - a kind of acceleration maneuver with a trajectory that puts the ship into lunar orbit. The trajectory is shown in the diagram below, where the red dot indicates the location of the TLI maneuver. Before launching toward the Moon, the spacecraft will orbit the Earth twice, gradually increasing speed in preparation for TLI.

The Orion spacecraft will go back to Earth using a gravitational maneuver, turning around the Moon. During this flyby, the crew will fly thousands of kilometers beyond the Moon. For the first manned mission, NASA set a flexible timeline. The mission can last from 8 to 21 days.

NASA has defined goals and objectives for lunar missions. Together with experiments on the ISS, these scientific projects will prepare for future missions in deep space.

Flight equipment for the first and second SLS and Orion missions is now in production, and life support systems and related technologies are being tested on the ISS. Development work continues to create housing and the propulsion system of the ship on which people will go to Mars, here NASA is working closely with private companies and foreign partners who offer their own solutions to existing problems.

Lunar spaceport

There will be a power source, a habitation module, a docking module, an airlock chamber, and a logistics module. The propulsion system will use primarily electric propulsion to maintain the lunar station's position or move to different orbits for different missions in the lunar vicinity, NASA writes.

The three main modules of the lunar station - the power plant, the habitation module and the logistics module - will be lifted into orbit by the SLS rocket and delivered by the Orion spacecraft.

NASA is going to maintain and use the Deep Space Gateway with its partners - both commercial companies and foreign partners.

Deep space transport

The vehicle will be tested over the next decade, and NASA plans to conduct a year-long crewed Deep Space Transport test in the late 2020s. The astronauts will spend 300-400 days in cislunar space. This mission will be a dress rehearsal before sending astronauts to Mars. To date, the record for staying in deep space is 12.5 days for 17 Apollo crew members.

It is no secret that the exploration of the Moon and the creation of a habitable base on it is one of the priorities of Russian cosmonautics. However, to implement such a large-scale project, it is not enough to organize a one-time flight, but it is necessary to build an infrastructure that would allow regular flights to the Moon and from it to Earth. To do this, in addition to creating a new spacecraft and a super-heavy launch vehicle, it is necessary to create bases in space, which are orbital stations. One of them may appear in Earth orbit as early as 2017-2020 and will be developed in subsequent years by increasing modules, including those for launching to the Moon.

It is expected that by 2024 the station will be equipped with power and transformable modules designed to work with lunar missions. However, this is only part of the lunar infrastructure. The next important step is lunar orbital station, the creation of which is included in the Russian space program. Starting from 2020, Roscosmos will consider technical proposals for the station, and in 2025 the draft documentation for its modules should be approved. At the same time, computers and scientific equipment for the lunar orbital station will begin to be developed in 2022, in order to begin ground-based development in 2024. The lunar station should include several modules: an energy module, a laboratory, and a hub for docking spacecraft.

Speaking about the need for such a station in the orbit of the Moon, it should be noted that you can fly from the Moon to Earth only once every 14 days, when their orbital planes coincide. However, circumstances may require an urgent departure, in which case the station will be simply vital. In addition, it will be able to solve a whole range of problems of a different nature, from communications to supply issues. According to a number of experts, the most rational option would be to locate a lunar orbital station at the Lagrange point, located 60,000 km from the Moon. At this point, the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon are mutually balanced, and from this place it will be possible to launch to the Moon or Mars with minimal energy costs.

The flight path to the Moon will probably look like this. The launch vehicle launches the spacecraft into orbit, after which it will be received by the Russian space station located in Earth orbit. There it will be prepared for further flight, and if necessary (if the mass of the ship must be increased), the ship will be assembled here from several modules launched in several launches. Having launched, the ship will cover the distance to the Russian lunar orbital station and dock with it, after which it can remain in orbit, and the descent module will fly to the Moon.

The heads of the Russian and US space agencies agreed to create a new space station in lunar orbit.

“We agreed that we will jointly participate in the project to create a new international lunar station, Deep Space Gateway. At the first stage, we will build the orbital part with the further prospect of using proven technologies on the surface of the Moon and subsequently Mars. The launch of the first modules is possible in 2024-2026 year", - told head of Roscosmos Igor Komarov

Russia will create up to three modules and standards for a unified docking mechanism for the space station.
“In addition, Russia intends to use the new super-heavy class launch vehicle currently being created to launch structures into lunar orbit,” noted head of Roscosmos.

As Sergei Krikalev, director of Roscosmos for manned programs, noted for his part, in addition to the airlock module, Russia can develop a residential module for the new station.

The label plays a huge role. Moreover, judging by the above statements, Russia will almost completely create the station, and even design and build super-heavy ships for delivering cargo. And the United States itself will not create anything worthwhile in this project except problems. It would be more reliable with BRICS.

It seems that Americans trying to get ahead of the curve into the Russian-Chinese alliance.

The USA sank the first space station of the USSR, and then, under the guise of creating a second one, it included itself there, without actually participating in it... But now in American films they talk about Russia as a country of Papuans, which is not capable of not only going into space, but even swim in a puddle... and all this despite the fact that the United States is virtually unable to “conquer” outer space without the help of Russia...

And in general, why do the Americans need some kind of station in lunar orbit, if they have a very successful Apollo program, with new technologies it is a hundred times cheaper and easier to repeat it and you can immediately build a lunar base. Really...