{"id":12138,"date":"2020-11-02T01:47:33","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T17:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/international-space-station-offers-blueprint-for-exploration-first-crew-says\/"},"modified":"2020-11-02T01:47:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T17:47:33","slug":"international-space-station-offers-blueprint-for-exploration-first-crew-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/international-space-station-offers-blueprint-for-exploration-first-crew-says\/","title":{"rendered":"International Space Station offers \u2018blueprint\u2019 for exploration, first crew says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, commander Bill Shepherd, and flight engineer Sergei Krikalev on-board the International Space Station in December 2000. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL-turned astronaut who arrived at the International Space Station 20 years ago Monday to begin the continuous occupancy of the orbiting research outpost, says the experience gained by NASA and its global partners over the last two decades provides a blueprint for missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.<\/p>\n

Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates \u2014 Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev \u2014 docked with the space station Nov. 2, 2000, aboard their Soyuz TM-31 spaceship, two days after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Their first task? Get the hatch open and turn on the lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we just got there, we were not able to open the hatch right away,\u201d Gidzenko recalled in a virtual panel discussion broadcast on NASA TV on Oct. 29. \u201cWe had to struggle \u2026 with our legs, with our arms for maybe five minutes. And we were thinking how come? We just arrived at the station but we were not able to get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

After some extra effort, the trio opened the hatches and floated into the space station\u2019s darkened Zvezda service module.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally opened the hatch and we got in, and we turned on the lights,\u201d Gidzenko said. \u201cWe got some hot water. We activated the toilet, and I remember Shep (Shepherd) said, \u2018Now we can live. We have light, we have hot water, and we have a toilet.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very memorable switching on lights for the first time,\u201d recalled Krikalev, a veteran cosmonaut who flew on Russia\u2019s Mir space station, NASA\u2019s space shuttles, and the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

Shepherd, Gidzenko, and Krikalev arrived at the station nearly two years after the first elements of the research lab launched. The U.S.-owned, Russian-built Zarya control module launched Nov. 20, 1998, and NASA\u2019s Unity connecting node joined Zarya the next month after riding into orbit on the shuttle Endeavour.<\/p>\n

After lengthy delays, the station\u2019s Zvezda service module launched July 12, 2000, atop a Russian Proton rocket. Two weeks later, it automatically docked with the Zarya module, completing the core of the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

Two more space shuttle visits in September and October 2000 delivered supplies, communications equipment, control moment gyroscopes, and other gear necessary for the space station to support a three-person crew.<\/p>\n

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The International Space Station. Credit: NASA\/Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Krikalev said the Expedition 1 mission set the stage for 20 years of successful operations on the space station, which is now occupied by the Expedition 64 crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of our mission was to make the station alive because when we came, a lot of the systems were shut down, some of them were not even installed, and some of them installation and activation of the systems were life critical,\u201d Krikalev said. \u201cIf we weren\u2019t able to do this on time, we would have had to stop the mission early and return back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krikalev, now director of piloted missions at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said that while the International Space Station is a laboratory designed to accommodate scientific investigations, the program itself is one big experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did on Expedition 1 was a big technical experiment,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the hardware never met each other on the ground, and we had to install it in space for the first time, and not every time was smooth. I think it was a very interesting technical and organizational experiment, and the result of this experiment we\u2019re using up to now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, Shepherd and his crewmates set the tone for the way ground teams oversee astronauts\u2019 schedules and priorities on the space station. Early on, he complained of a grueling work schedule and different tasks assigned by mission control teams in Houston and Moscow, sometimes at odds with one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cOccasionally, we would get conflicting marching orders,\u201d Shepherd said. \u201cI got really frustrated one day, and I got on the radio, and both control centers can hear you \u2026 And (I) said, \u2018Look, we\u2019re the International Space Station. You guys have to coordinate one plan and give it to us, and that\u2019s the plan we\u2019ll do. We\u2019re not doing one plan for Moscow and one plan for Houston.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just needed that one little reminder, and I was happy to give it to them, and that was my happiest day in space,\u201d Shepherd said.<\/p>\n