Up until today, they used the Shuttle. Since this was the last shuttle mission, they will need to use the Soyuz space capsules until NASA comes up with a replacement vehicle, which is not even on the drawing board.
Yes, a space station will support humans. It does now; the International Space Station has a varying crew of from 3-5 people. Previous space stations such as the two Soviet Mir stations and the old NASA Skylab station all had human crews.
The first successful space station in space was the U.S. made Skylab , it had crews visiting it on three different occasions , and each crew lived for longer periods then the previous ones.
It takes the Shuttle about 2 days to reach the International Space Station.
About 66 hours.
The station offers an advantage over spacecrafts such as NASA's Space Shuttle because it is a long-term platform, in the space environment, allowing duration studies to be performed, both on specific experiments and on the human crews that operate them.
Yes, a space station will support humans. It does now; the International Space Station has a varying crew of from 3-5 people. Previous space stations such as the two Soviet Mir stations and the old NASA Skylab station all had human crews.
The first successful space station in space was the U.S. made Skylab , it had crews visiting it on three different occasions , and each crew lived for longer periods then the previous ones.
It takes the Shuttle about 2 days to reach the International Space Station.
About 66 hours.
The American Skylab was the first space station put into space. It remained in Earth orbit from 1973 to 1979 and was visited by crews three times between 1973 and 1974.
The station offers an advantage over spacecrafts such as NASA's Space Shuttle because it is a long-term platform, in the space environment, allowing duration studies to be performed, both on specific experiments and on the human crews that operate them.
After the Space Shuttle is retired in late 2010, the International Space Station will still continue to operate as usual. By the time the Space Shuttle is retired, all of the major components of the Space Station will be on orbit, so it will finally be complete. Crews to the space station will need to be delivered solely by Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, although if Project Constellation continues as planned, the Orion spacecraft will be used to deliver American crews. Other vehicles might also be developed to deliver crews, because it's expensive for NASA to buy seats for American astronauts onboard Russian spacecraft. Supplies will be delivered to the Space Station through Russian Progress supply crafts, Japanese H-II Transfer vehicles, and European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) spacecraft.
SKYLAB was the first NASA space station, launched May 14, 1973 and visited by three crews during 1973 and 1974. It was constructed from the upper-stage booster shell of a Saturn rocket (S-IV-B). The spacecraft became famous as an on-the-job training site for space repairs by astronauts, having experienced numerous problems during its launch and in space. After the leftover Saturn rockets from Apollo were used up, there was no way for crews to reach the station. After 5 years of disuse, it was allowed to re-enter the atmosphere on July 11, 1979. Various fragments from the vehicle were recovered from Western Australia.
Crews of the International Space Station conduct experiments in human research, life science, physical science, and Earth observation.
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Charles Simonyi
The International Space Station uses solar panels.