The International Space Station is growing and growing. On Wednesday, February 8, 2001, the Destiny Laboratory was launched from the space shuttle Atlantis. Nothing like this laboratory has ever been built. It is a tube-shaped lab that cost $1.38 billion. The lab will allow astronauts to conduct new research on long-term exposure to micro-gravity (the study of living in space without gravity), gravity-free production of semi-conductors and glass fibers used in computers, cell phones, video games, and many other electronic devices, better medicines, and stronger, lighter materials.

Marsha Ivins controlled the shuttle’s robot arm and gently lifted the 28-foot, 15-ton lab out of the shuttle’s cargo bay. There was not a lot of extra space in the cargo bay. There was only 2 inches between the Destiny and the walls of the cargo bay. One small error and the lab could have been ruined. She did a great job, and astronauts on spacewalks connected the Destiny to the ISS.

Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift off on March 8, 2001 with the first set of science experiments for the Destiny Laboratory.  Seven other space shuttle launches are planned for the year 2001 with six of them going to the ISS. The station will cost between $60 billion and $90 billion by the time it is finished.  The next major piece to be sent into orbit will be the Canadian-built robot arm.  Two more laboratories built by the Europeans and the Japanese will be delivered to the space station by 2006.

[Return to Our Welcome Page]

Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of NASA. Permission for use at http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/guideline.html.

This site works best on a PC using Internet Explorer.  There are some minor problems using Netscape, especially on Apples, but they can't be fixed.  Sorry!