What stations are currently in space. History of the creation of the ISS. Station body surface
The modular International Space Station is the largest artificial satellite of the Earth, the size of a football field. The total sealed volume of the station is equal to the volume of a Boeing 747 aircraft, and its mass is 419,725 kilograms. The ISS is a joint international project in which 14 countries participate: Russia, Japan, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland, Sweden and of course, the USA. 
Have you ever wanted to visit the International Space Station? Now there is such an opportunity! There is no need to fly anywhere. This stunning video will take you around the ISS in a fully immersive orbital experience. A fisheye lens with sharp focus and extreme depth of field provides an immersive visual experience in virtual reality. During the 18-minute tour, your viewpoint will move smoothly. You will see our delightful planet 400 kilometers under the seven-window module of the ISS “Dome” and explore the inhabited nodes and modules from the inside from the perspective of an astronaut.
International Space Station
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 collaboration 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.
History of creation
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, including the long-term effects of weightlessness on the human body. Their creation was a necessary step in preparing future human flights to other planets. The Salyut program had a dual purpose: the space stations Salyut-2, Salyut-3 and Salyut-5 were intended for military needs - reconnaissance and correction of the actions of ground troops. During the implementation of the Salyut program from 1971 to 1986, the main architectural elements of space stations were tested, which were subsequently used in the design of a new long-term orbital station, which was developed by NPO Energia (since 1994, RSC Energia) and the Salyut design bureau. - leading enterprises of the Soviet space industry. The new DOS in earth orbit was Mir, which was launched in February 1986. It was the first space station with a modular architecture: its sections (modules) were delivered into orbit by spacecraft separately and assembled into a single whole in orbit. It was planned that the assembly of the largest space station in history would be completed in 1990, and after five years in orbit it would be replaced by another DOS - Mir-2. However, 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 1973-1974, the American Skylab station operated in orbit; the DOS Freedom project faced severe criticism from the American Congress. 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), and it was initially intended to call it "Alpha" (American version) or "Atlant" (Russian version). 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 first module of the ISS was the basic functional cargo segment Zarya, launched into orbit four months late in November 1998. There were rumors that due to underfunding of the ISS program and delays in the construction of basic segments, they wanted to exclude Russia from the program. In December 1998, the first American module Unity I was docked to Zarya. Concerns about the future of the station were caused by the decision to extend the operation of the Mir station until 2002, made by the government of Yevgeny Primakov against the backdrop of deteriorating relations with the United States due to the war in Yugoslavia and British and US operations in Iraq. However, the last cosmonauts left Mir in June 2000, and on March 23, 2001, the station was sunk in the Pacific Ocean, having worked 5 times longer than originally planned. The Russian Zvezda module, the third in a row, was docked to the ISS only in 2000, and in November 2000 the first crew of three arrived at the station: American captain William Shepherd and two Russians: Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko .
General characteristics of 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.
Station design and its modules
Like Mir, 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; a crew of 6 or 7 people will always be on board the station.
Module "Zarya"
The first module of the station, weighing 19,323 tons, was launched into orbit by the 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 creation of this module was repeatedly postponed due to a lack of funds on the Russian side and, ultimately, was built with US funds at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and owned by NASA.
Module "Star"
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 module was partially built back in the 80s for the Mir-2 station, its construction was completed with Russian funds. Since the Zvezda was created in a single copy and was key for the further operation of the station, in case of failure during its launch, the Americans built a less capacious backup module.
Module "Pier"
The docking module, weighing 3,480 tons, was manufactured by RSC Energia and was launched into orbit in September 2001. It was built with Russian funds and serves for docking of the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, as well as for spacewalks.
"Search" module
The docking module Poisk - Small Research Module-2 (MIM-2) is almost identical to the Pirs. It was launched into orbit in November 2009.
Module "Dawn"
Rassvet Small Research Module-1 (SRM-1), used for biotechnology and materials science experiments and docking, was delivered to the ISS by a shuttle mission in 2010.
Other modules
Russia plans to add another module to the ISS - the Multifunctional Laboratory Module (MLM), which is being created by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and, after launch in 2013, should become the largest laboratory module of the station, weighing more than 20 tons. It is planned that it will include an 11-meter manipulator that will be able to move cosmonauts and astronauts in space, as well as various equipment. 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.
Expeditions
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 became the first example of the commercialization of space flights. Roscosmos, together with the Space Adventures company, sent space tourists into orbit for the first time The first of them was American entrepreneur Dennis Tito, who spent 7 days and 22 hours on board the station for 20 million dollars in April-May 2001. Since then, the ISS has been visited by entrepreneur and founder of the Ubuntu Foundation Mark Shuttleworth ), American scientist and businessman Gregory Olsen, Iranian-American Anousheh Ansari, former head of the Microsoft software development group Charles Simonyi and computer game developer, founder of the role-playing game (RPG) genre Richard Garriott, son of American astronaut Owen Garriott 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. The episode with the wedding in space received a wide response in society. On August 10, 2003, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Russian-American Ekaterina Dmitrieva got married remotely: Malenchenko was on board the ISS, and Dmitrieva was on Earth, in Houston. This event received a sharply negative assessment from the commander of the Russian Air Force Vladimir Mikhailov and Rosaviakosmos. There were rumors that Rosaviakosmos and NASA were going to ban such events in the future.
Incidents
The most serious incident was the landing disaster of the space 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. Other most serious incidents include smoke in the Russian segment of the station in 2006, computer failures 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. In 2008, the bathroom in the Zvezda module broke down twice, which required the crew to build a temporary system for collecting waste products using replaceable containers. A critical situation did not arise due to the presence of a backup bathroom on the Japanese module "Kibo" docked in the same year.
Ownership and financing
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. Initially, the cost of the station was estimated at 35 billion dollars, in 1997 the estimated cost of the station was already 50 billion, and in 1998 - 90 billion dollars. In 2008, ESA estimated its total cost at 100 billion euros.
Criticism
Despite the fact that the ISS has become a new milestone in the development of international cooperation in space, its project has been repeatedly criticized by experts. Due to funding problems and the Columbia disaster, the most important experiments, such as the launch of the Japanese-American artificial gravity module, were cancelled. The practical significance of the experiments carried out on the ISS did not justify the costs of creating and maintaining the operation of the station. Michael Griffin, appointed head of NASA in 2005, although he called the ISS “the greatest engineering miracle,” said that because of the station, financial support for robotic space exploration programs and human flights to the Moon and Mars was decreasing. The researchers noted that the station design, which included a highly inclined orbit, significantly reduced the cost of flights to the Soyuz ISS, but made shuttle launches more expensive.
Future of the station
The completion of construction of the ISS occurred in 2011-2012. 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, Griffin, promised to fulfill all US obligations to complete construction of the station. One of the main problems is the continued operation of the shuttles. The final flight of the shuttle mission is scheduled for 2010, while the first flight of the US Orion spacecraft, which will replace the shuttles, was scheduled for 2014. Thus, from 2010 to 2014, cosmonauts and cargo were to be delivered to the ISS by Russian rockets. 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 2008, ESA broke the monopoly of Russia and the United States on delivering cargo to the ISS by successfully docking the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo ship to the station. Since September 2009, the Japanese Kibo laboratory has been supplied by the unmanned automatic spacecraft H-II Transfer Vehicle. It was planned that RSC Energia would create a new vehicle for flight to the ISS - the Clipper. However, lack of funding led to the Russian Federal Space Agency canceling the competition for the creation of such a spacecraft, so the project was frozen. In February 2010, it became known that US President Barack Obama ordered the closure of the Constellation lunar program. According to the American president, the implementation of the program was far behind schedule, and it itself did not contain any fundamental novelty. Instead, Obama decided to invest additional funds in the development of space projects of private companies and until they were able to send ships to the ISS, the delivery of astronauts to the station was to be carried out by Russian forces.
In July 2011, the Atlantis shuttle made its last flight, after which Russia remained the only country with the ability to send people to the ISS. In addition, the United States temporarily lost the opportunity to supply the station with cargo and was forced to rely on Russian, European and Japanese colleagues. However, NASA considered options for concluding contracts with private companies that would provide for the creation of ships that could deliver cargo and then astronauts to the station. The first such experience was the Dragon ship, developed by the private company SpaceX. Its first experimental docking with the ISS was repeatedly postponed for technical reasons, but was crowned with success in May 2012.
Cosmonautics Day is coming on April 12th. And of course, it would be wrong to ignore this holiday. Moreover, this year the date will be special, 50 years since the first human flight into space. It was on April 12, 1961 that Yuri Gagarin accomplished his historical feat.
Well, man cannot survive in space without grandiose superstructures. This is exactly what the International Space Station is.
The dimensions of the ISS are small; length - 51 meters, width including trusses - 109 meters, height - 20 meters, weight - 417.3 tons. But I think everyone understands that the uniqueness of this superstructure is not in its size, but in the technologies used to operate the station in outer space. The ISS orbital altitude is 337-351 km above the earth. The orbital speed is 27,700 km/h. This allows the station to complete a full revolution around our planet in 92 minutes. That is, every day, astronauts on the ISS experience 16 sunrises and sunsets, 16 times night follows day. Currently, the ISS crew consists of 6 people, and in general, during its entire operation, the station received 297 visitors (196 different people). The start of operation of the International Space Station is considered to be November 20, 1998. And at the moment (04/09/2011) the station has been in orbit for 4523 days. During this time it has evolved quite a lot. I suggest you verify this by looking at the photo.
ISS, 1999.
ISS, 2000.
ISS, 2002.
ISS, 2005.
ISS, 2006.
ISS, 2009.
ISS, March 2011.
Below is a diagram of the station, from which you can find out the names of the modules and also see the docking locations of the ISS with other spacecraft.
The ISS is an international project. 23 countries participate in it: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg (!!!), the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, USA, Finland, France, Czech Republic , Switzerland, Sweden, Japan. After all, no state alone can financially manage the construction and maintenance of the functionality of the International Space Station. It is not possible to calculate exact or even approximate costs for the construction and operation of the ISS. The official figure has already exceeded 100 billion US dollars, and if we add all the side costs, we get about 150 billion US dollars. The International Space Station is already doing this. the most expensive project throughout the history of mankind. And based on the latest agreements between Russia, the USA and Japan (Europe, Brazil and Canada are still in thought) that the life of the ISS has been extended at least until 2020 (and a further extension is possible), the total costs of maintaining the station will increase even more.
But I suggest we take a break from the numbers. Indeed, in addition to scientific value, the ISS has other advantages. Namely, the opportunity to appreciate the pristine beauty of our planet from the height of orbit. And it is not at all necessary to go into outer space for this.
Because the station has its own observation deck, a glazed module “Dome”.
The International Space Station (ISS), the successor to the Soviet Mir station, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The agreement on the creation of the ISS was signed on January 29, 1998 in Washington by representatives of Canada, the governments of member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, Russia and the United States.
Work on the international space station began in 1993.
On March 15, 1993, RKA General Director Yu.N. Koptev and general designer of NPO ENERGY Yu.P. Semenov approached NASA head D. Goldin with a proposal to create an International Space Station.
On September 2, 1993, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V.S. Chernomyrdin and US Vice President A. Gore signed a “Joint Statement on Cooperation in Space,” which also provided for the creation of a joint station. In its development, RSA and NASA developed and on November 1, 1993 signed a “Detailed Work Plan for the International Space Station.” This made it possible in June 1994 to sign a contract between NASA and RSA “On supplies and services for the Mir station and the International Space Station.”
Taking into account certain changes at joint meetings of the Russian and American sides in 1994, the ISS had the following structure and organization of work:
In addition to Russia and the USA, Canada, Japan and European Cooperation countries are participating in the creation of the station;
The station will consist of 2 integrated segments (Russian and American) and will be gradually assembled in orbit from separate modules.
Construction of the ISS in low-Earth orbit began on November 20, 1998 with the launch of the Zarya functional cargo block.
Already on December 7, 1998, the American connecting module Unity was docked to it, delivered into orbit by the Endeavor shuttle.
On December 10, the hatches to the new station were opened for the first time. The first to enter it were Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and American astronaut Robert Cabana.
On July 26, 2000, the Zvezda service module was introduced into the ISS, which at the station deployment stage became its base unit, the main place for the crew to live and work.
In November 2000, the crew of the first long-term expedition arrived at the ISS: William Shepherd (commander), Yuri Gidzenko (pilot) and Sergei Krikalev (flight engineer). Since then the station has been permanently inhabited.
During the deployment of the station, 15 main expeditions and 13 visiting expeditions visited the ISS. Currently, the crew of the 16th main expedition is at the station - the first American female commander of the ISS, Peggy Whitson, ISS flight engineers Russian Yuri Malenchenko and American Daniel Tani.
As part of a separate agreement with ESA, six flights of European astronauts were carried out to the ISS: Claudie Haignere (France) - in 2001, Roberto Vittori (Italy) - in 2002 and 2005, Frank de Vinna (Belgium) - in 2002, Pedro Duque (Spain) - in 2003, Andre Kuipers (Netherlands) - in 2004.
A new page in the commercial use of space was opened after the flights of the first space tourists to the Russian segment of the ISS - American Denis Tito (in 2001) and South African Mark Shuttleworth (in 2002). For the first time, non-professional cosmonauts visited the station.
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 collaboration 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 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; a crew of 6 or 7 people will always be 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 space 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.