International Space Station by Zuzana Valkova

It's true that we are not alone. There's something else in the space. At least there are our astronauts who live on the International Space Station. This station was built to become the first common place for people, where they can study the space and earth and where they can discover new fields of science. This station is the only place where, usually two or three, astronauts live constantly. They are changing every six months if it's possible. The first crew enters the station in 2000. The station is on the low orbit of Earth in the height of 360 Km. The station is built from many modules. Some of them are American and Russian and right now they are going to connect one European and in the near future one Japanese module. I didn't know about the fact that there is also Russian space ship Soyuz connected to the station, in case there would be some danger. Big very visible parts of the ship are solar panels, which produce the electricity for the whole station. I was thinking about what the astronauts can do on the Station for six months? I know that they are also scientist and they have their missions. But six months is very long time. Can you imagine being in the space for so long, without your family and with limited contact with Earth? I'm sure they don't have internet or phone there, so they can call anybody anytime. I know that the feeling of being in the space is amazing, but I would think about it before going there.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080205/sc_afp/usspaceshuttleeurope_080205192140;_ylt=ApFYYOLvNnWo4mQq96icp6es0NUE

by Zuzana Valkova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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