The International Space Station, as
the largest international civil program in history, features unprecedented
technical, managerial, and international complexity. Seven international
partners and participants encompassing fifteen countries are involved in the
ISS.
US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Belguim,
the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden,
Swtizerland , the UK, and Brazil
Each partner is designing, developing and will be
operating separate pieces of hardware, to be integrated on-orbit into a single
orbital station. Mission control centers, launch vehicles,
astronauts/cosmonauts, and support services will be provided by multiple
partners, but functioning in a coordinated, integrated fashion. A number of
major milestones have been accomplished to date, including the construction of
major elements of flight hardware, the development of operations and sustaining
engineering centers, astronaut training, and seven Space Shuttle/Mir docking
missions. International partner contributions and levels of participation have
been baselined. Astronauts and cosmonauts are in training. This paper will
discuss the contributions of each of the partners and participants and recent
milestones that have been accomplished, leading up to the first element launch
on schedule in June 1998.
