The quest to fulfill the dream of permanent human residency in outer space has begun.
As of Thursday, November 2nd at 3:21am CST, a team of two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut have landed on the international space station. Their four-month stay will be the first of many residencies to come.
For the next 15 years, outer space will welcome steady human existence, as new astronaut crews plan a continuous rotation at the station.
According to the Pioneer Press, this advancement has been called the largest technological enterprise ever undertaken. The landing has opened a new era in space exploration that could lead to the colonization of space within 20 years. Space policy analyst Howard McCurdy claims that his first occupation will be recalled with such milestones as the launch of Sputnik, the first satellite in space, and the Apollo moon landing.
The team consists of three men: American station commander William Shepherd, 51, and his crewmates Yuri Gidzenko, 38, and Sergei Krikalev, 42. They took off in Kazakhstan, Russia from a desert directly below the space station. Departing on the last day of October, they arrived at their destination two days later.
Within an hour of their perfect landing, the crew stepped onto the international space station officially bringing it to life. Their ultimate purpose of the station is to become a scientific and medical research center and test site for advanced technology. The hope is that this research will enable others to successfully reach Mars and beyond.
The first task of the crew, however, is to set up vital life support systems on the space station. The first couple weeks of their venture, they will be occupied with the essentials; such as activating the waste processor, setting up food warmers and communication links, charging power tools, and setting up lap top control systems.
Many experts anticipated problems among the astronauts regarding cultural differences as well as just pure annoyances that could arise with each other over the four month period. Contrary to these projections, the crewmembers have spent four years training for the experience together at Star City, and they continue to get along extremely well. They are all very enthusiastic about their cooperative mission as the first residents of space.
By request of the crewmembers, the international space station was recently dubbed "Alpha" - a name corresponding with the new beginning of life in space. They had been pushing for a name for years, but had not come to a conclusion for fear of disagreement. According to the New York Times, head of NASA Daniel Goldin was opposed to any name other than international space station, but finally laughed and told the men to go ahead and call the space station Alpha for their four-month mission. It remains to be seen whether this will remain the permanent name for the station. Alpha is spoken the same in both Russian and English, but with different spellings.
The concept of a space station came about over a decade before it's name was ever a dispute. In the 1984 State of the Union Address, President Reagan called for the construction of such a space station.
However, because of the high nature of the expense, it was delayed until 1993 when the Clinton administration collaborated with Russia on the venture. Russia's economic difficulties brought about two more years of delay before the station was finally built. Since then, 14 other nations have become involved.
"Let's look upon this [launching] as the real opening of the international space frontier - not just for one country, but for Russia, America, Europe, Japan, Canada, and all that are to follow," said Goldin, according to the Pioneer Press.
Future astronauts to inhabit the space station are excited that the crew has finally taken off; it means that they are next in line! Female astronaut Susan Helms will travel to Alpha in February, while Carl Walz will follow next fall. Training takes place in Star City at NASA, and it is especially difficult because the astronauts must understand both country's systems before they are allowed to live at the station.
The international space station is scheduled to be completed in the year 2006, when the station will finally be devoted solely to research and exploration. Only time will tell if the recent landing does in fact bring about the beginning of a new space era.
``We have an international outpost now that will be continuously manned with people from multiple countries and they're all going to work together,'' said Helms, according to the Associated Press. ``No matter what happens on Earth with strife between countries, there is one place where people from other countries are working together in peace, and I just think that is a great achievement.''