Space Stations At first there were rockets, then satellites and finally space stations. In the beginning space stations were deemed necessary to find out what the prolonged effects of weightlessness and staying in space for long periods were. Then it was said they would make excellent assembly platforms for building vehicles outside of earth's atmosphere that would be able to travel to the planets. Now it is said we need them for some sort of international cooperation in space. Be that as it may, and agree with it or not, we have a space station orbiting above us at this very moment, and it is the International Space Station, but you knew that. How did space stations get their start and which was the first country to build one? On April 19, 1972 the then Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, it was named Salyut 1. It was small being 12 meters long by 4.1 meters wide. The Soviets had managed to squeeze 4 compartments into it. Three compartments were pressurized and one was not. The first crew to visit this station couldn't get the hatch open and had to return to earth. On this return trip to earth the crew almost died as the air in the capsule became toxic. The second crew got in the station and stayed for 24 days, but tragedy also struck on the trip home. A valve let the air out of their space ship and they all died. The crew had no space suits. After this accident all cosmonauts were required to wear space suits and carry oxygen. Salyut 1 completed 362 orbits of the earth then burned up in the atmosphere. The next space station to be launched was the Salyut 2. It was launched on 3 April 1973, but control was lost after about after 2 weeks and before anyone could be put aboard. It burned up in the atmosphere on 28 May 1973. Some say the Soviets launched a space station called Cosmos 557 next. They say the general public was never told, because it was a space station whose mission was to spy on earth and it malfunctioned and was destroyed before it could be used. The next station we know about was Skylab which was launched by the U.S. on 14 May 1973. It was 36 meters high, 6.7 meters in diameter. This made it about 3X longer and 50% wider than Salyut 1. On 11 July 1979 Skylab burned up in the earth's atmosphere, it had been abandoned, because we had no way to return to it since the last Apollo flight had taken place and we had no shuttles yet. An interesting point was the station was made up of Saturn V boosters. Salyut 3 was blasted into space on 25 June 1974. This station had among other things, a gun for battle and the first water recycling plant in space. The gun shook the station so much when fired that it was not tested in orbit. On 24 January 1975 the station was sent into the atmosphere and burned up. Salyut 3 was considered a military space station. Salyut 4 was the next space station to be sent up. It was launched on 26 December 1974. It had an orbital design life of sixty days and was similar to Salyut 1. On 2 February 1977 the station was sent to its fiery death in the atmosphere. Salyut 5 was launched on 22 June 1976. It was the second Russian Military space station. The station had a detachable reentry capsule for sending things back to earth. On 8 August 1977 the station burned up in the atmosphere. Salyut 6 was launched on 29 September 1977. This space station was equipped with two docking ports so supplies could be sent up while a ship was still docked to the other port. Because of this port arrangement the crews could extend their stays for long periods of time. Unmanned ships were developed to send supplies to the station and take out the garbage. This station was inhabited for 676 days. On 29 June 1982 the station was sent into the atmosphere to burn up. The last Salyut space station was Salyut 7. It was launched on 19 April 1982. It was a modified Salyut 6. It had the ability to use extra solar panels on the sides if necessary. A refrigerator, stove and water heater had been added. Two cosmonauts set long distance stays of 236 days onboard. The sun was experiencing a lot of solar activity which effected the atmosphere and the station had to be boosted into a higher orbit. On 7 February 1991 the station was sent into the atmosphere to burn up. Mir was the next space station to be built. Yes, I said built because it was composed of modules that were assembled in space. On 20 February 1986 the first module was launched. What made the Mir unusual was its design, it could be expanded. Not only could it be expanded but its configuration could be changed. After fifteen years Mir became like an old car, it just didn't pay to try and keep it together, too much was going wrong. The US felt Mir was interfering with Russia's ability to help with the International Space Station since they were late in supplying a promised module. On 23 March 2001 Mir was sent into the atmosphere to be destroyed. In 1998 the International Space Station was opened and was of modular construction with some of the modules coming from different countries. There are two main sections, the Russian and the American. The Russians have supplied the emergency escape rocket. This space station could be the last one to have Russian and American cooperation. The station has remained manned by astronauts and cosmonauts. Tiangong 2 is now in orbit and was launched on 15 September 2016. It is said this space station was not designed to have a long presence in space and is only a testbed, and the next space station will be launched sometime between 2019 and 2022. Since then the Chinese have cancelled the construction of Tiangong 3.
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