NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Release date: 03/01

Marshall Space Flight Center's Role in Development and Operations of the International Space Station

From the Apollo Program, to Skylab, to Spacelab, Marshall engineers and scientists have collaborated to provide both space-based and ground-based science research facilities for the NASA and global civil science community.

That heritage has led to creation of the new Payload Operations Center, the command post for the science expeditions to the International Space Station.

The Marshall payload operations role in Space Station is a logical continuation of its key role in supporting Space Station manufacturing and testing.

Space Station Operations

The Payload Operations Center is responsible for real-time Space Station science operations, including payload planning, data management, operations control, communication with the crew, and overall integration and management of science payloads and experimentation.

An example of the Center's expertise in enhancing science operations is the development of the Telescience Resource Kit, or TReK, a computer software system developed by Marshall engineers. It enables Earth-bound scientists to remotely operate Space Station experiments from their own laboratories via the Internet, receiving information from and transmitting commands to their experiments aboard the Station 220 miles or more in space. TReK even allows them to talk with crewmembers from their computer.

Marshall also designed the Station's communications network to provide the critical electronic link between Russia and the United States. It ties together the International Space Station Mission Control Centers in Moscow and Houston. The communication network provides telephone, voice and video teleconferencing, wide and local area networks, computer hardware and software acquisition and maintenance, electronic mail, administrative data access and file transfer, as well as the exchange of mission operations data and information.

Space Station Microgravity Research Facility Development

Marshall, as NASA's Lead Center for Microgravity Research in the United States, operates the Microgravity Development Laboratory. The laboratory is a new facility for the development of microgravity payloads for the International Space Station and Space Shuttle flights. The laboratory will support development, testing and integration of microgravity payloads, and on-orbit operations of microgravity facilities.

The Materials Science Research Facility -- a standardized payload rack that will house materials science experiments aboard the Space Station -- is being designed, developed and tested at Marshall. Experiments conducted in the facility will focus on the process that occurs as materials change from a liquid to a solid state. Results of these experiments will be important to improving materials processes on Earth.

Marshall is also testing the Microgravity Science Glovebox -- an enclosed experiment facility accessible through airtight "glovedoors" - provided by the European Space Agency. Wearing protective gloves, astronauts insert their hands into the Glovebox to safely conduct otherwise potentially hazardous experiments.

Originally developed and successfully implemented more than a decade ago for Spacelab research, Gloveboxes are routinely employed on Space Shuttle science missions. Aboard the Space Station, the Glovebox will be used for biotechnology, combustion, fluid physics, and materials science experiments.

Marshall is responsible for integrating and managing all Space Station microgravity science and commercial experiments, or payloads -- a process that ensures experiments are operational and safe.

Through the Space Product Development Program at Marshall, NASA is helping industry explore the benefits of doing research in orbit. One third of the Station's experiment equipment will be devoted to commercial research, with companies investing funds to develop their own hardware and investigations through NASA's Commercial Space Centers.

Space Station Development

The Unity connecting node, the Destiny laboratory module, and the Space Station's Airlock module were manufactured by the Boeing Co.

Marshall provided preflight dynamic and structural testing of U.S. Space Station elements and thorough qualification testing of many Space Station components.

The Center managed the design of the multipurpose logistics module built by the Italian Space Agency. The module is a reusable carrier that will be the primary delivery system to resupply and return Space Station cargo that requires a pressurized environment. Marshall also managed the design, development and testing of two Space Station connecting nodes being built by the Italian Space Agency.

The Center is responsible for developing water recycling and oxygen generating systems for the Space Station - systems that will eliminate the need to resupply thousands of pounds of water and oxygen for the Station crew each year. In a specialized facility at Marshall, researchers conduct exhaustive tests simulating air conditioning, atmospheric pressure, and air and water purification functions aboard the Station. All reclamation and purification equipment is thoroughly tested for performance, hardware life, maintenance planning and troubleshooting.

To allow commercial and university scientists to quickly, easily and affordably get their experiments onto the Space Station, engineers at Marshall have designed and built the EXPRESS rack - a standardized payload rack that transports and houses experiments.

An EXPRESS Pallet, developed by NASA's Brazilian partners and managed by Marshall, will carry payloads that will attach to the Space Station hardware on orbit.

The Marshall Center has a long history of working closely with international partners such as the Japanese Space Agency, European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Russian Space Agency for space flight science operations.

The Marshall Center is also implementing NASA's plans for a propulsion system intended to help maintain the research facility's orbit during its 15-year mission in space. Known collectively as the U.S. Propulsion System, the new system will consist of two principal elements: a "node," or connective module, and at least one propulsion module. These reusable components -- containing fuel tanks and thrusters for boosting the Station into its proper orbit, maintaining attitude control and providing collision avoidance -- are designed to be carried back and forth from Earth to orbit by the Space Shuttle for refueling and refurbishment.

The U.S. Propulsion System will provide backup or supplementary propulsion for the Russian service module Zvezda, the station's primary propulsion system. The U.S. Propulsion System is expected to reach orbit aboard the Space Shuttle in June 2004.

Online Assistance for Visually Tracking the Space Station

News media and the public can watch the Space Station as it grows larger during construction on orbit, thanks to Marshall software developers. A sophisticated program called J-Pass enables users to track the Station and determine in advance when its orbit will take it over their locations. J-Pass -- which requires a Java-enabled browser and recent versions of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer -- is part of the "Liftoff to Space Exploration" site at:

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/

For viewers without a Java-enabled browser, the Website includes an automated mailing list option.

For More Information

Interviews on subjects of this fact sheet are available. Please contact Steve Roy of the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. More information about Marshall and the International Space Station can be found at:

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/