![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "Bush's plan stabilizes our program," said Feustel-Büechl. Bush unveiled his plan to send American astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars, at the same time saying that once its airworthiness had been reproven, shuttle flights would resume in order to complete construction of the ISS by 2010 and the fleet would be retired right after. The disintegration of the Space Shuttle Columbia forced the US government to rethink its manned spaceflight program Image: APīut in January, US President George W. The accident forced the United States to rethink its manned space strategy - a period of deliberation that left the fate of the space station uncertain. After the tragic disintegration of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, the ISS' future fell into a state of limbo because most major ISS components are launched by the shuttles, including ESA's Columbus. In recent months, however, that uptopian scientific vision has been imperiled. From a scientific perspective, it will be a unique facility that could be open to the participation of all the scientists of the world." By working together, we will be able to do even bigger things in the future. "Such a large project was never undertaken before. "The space station is the largest endeavor ever undertaken by the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada," said Günther Brandt, head of space station elements at EADS Space Transportation in Bremen. "Another 10 years of urine assays on a space station is not going to tell us much we don't already know."īut proponants note that the station marks an important chapter in post-Cold War history and scientists still have a lot they can learn from it. "The international space station is yesterday's technology," Robert Park, a physicist at the Unviersity of Maryland told Congress recently. Critics have lambasted the outmoded technology on the ISS. The space station has had its share of problems. Old technology paves way for new diplomacy The space station also serves as the basis of Europe's manned spaceflight program - since it's christening in 2000, ESA has sent seven astronauts to the ISS. Columbus and the ATV (illustration), which will shuttle supplies to the ISS and ferry rubbish away from it, form the core of Europe's ISS contributions. Image: ESAĮurope is a major partner in the ISS program, with Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland together contributing about €8 billion of the project's estimated €100 billion cost. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will enable ESA to transport payloads to ISS. "We are presently at a very decisive stage in Europe because we are about to finalize our major contributions to the space station," Jörg Feustel-Büechl, director of human spaceflight for the European Space Agency (ESA) told DW-WORLD. With the launch next year of its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Columbus Research Module a year later, Europe will dramatically increase its participation in the space project. Never before have astronauts, engineers, scientists and politicians from so many countries worked together on such an enormous and peaceful undertaking. Despite differences over the war in Iraq and, before that, the bombing of Yugoslavia, work contined on the space station unabated. But the space station has been a major diplomatic coup for Europe, Russia, the United States and the rest of their international partners. Critics have dismissed the ISS as a "trailer park in the sky," and politicians have bickered over its soaring price tag. ![]()
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